Lemongrass Stains: Recette's Annual
by C.F.Winchester. Finalage
Summary: This is about a still little known game, a hidden gem by the name of "Recettear: An Item Shop's tale." Centers after the main storyline, but beware of spoilers if you're still in-game, ehh? I just couldn't help myself.
1. Tradewinds of Change: Prologue

**_+{~RT~}+_**

Now, the heat has hardly settled, but I still fire off my gun, like the fool I am. Still, I feel that to strike hard, to strike fast, here is a need. I am impulsive as an "author", ehh? (Though, I always call meself a writer, as, yah know, I don't think I'm deserving of the title "author." Now, this is a fanfiction of the newly localized game; "Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale."

Trust me; it's a lot better than it sounds. Who cares though, I'm here to tell a story. I'll explain myself after this. Set after the main storyline, but you may still see events here that can happen in endless mode, so be warned. Another touch of a note. I can write darkly. You have been warned.

I own nothing here, but an active and foolish impulse, an imagination that needs to be harnessed with something stronger than diamond next time. Recettear belongs to all those who worked so hard to produce and distribute it, give thanks to those people!

Welcome to "**Lemongrass Stains: Recette's Annual**"

**_+{-~LSRA~-}+_**

**_Prologue: Trade Winds of Change._**

**_+{-~LSRA~-}+_**

_I always said it; with such joy in my heart and a smile on my face. A simple line, but one I meant every time. "Thank you so much; please come again!" _

_...Looking back, it seems surreal, that girl sitting behind the counter...she's so carefree, so sure of herself; so blindly believing in the good that lied in the heart of every man, woman and child...she was uneducated but still sharp...but she was still a ditz. A beautifully innocent and lovable ditz..._

_What am I now though? Well...I've been...educated. Yes, I suppose that's the word. Educated...educated on the ways of this world; on its pure determination to break you down. I...I guess you could say I was broken down. Slowly and painfully, with fatal accuracy too. Sometimes I sit in this empty house, this abandoned shop...and I think back on how it all happened. I can't seem to figure out why though...ohh? You want to know, don't you? Well...sit down right there then. Yes; that stool; behind the dusty counter there. I used to sit there every day, and that's where the story begins... _

_~About four years ago, that's the time when it started..._

_"…Recette… It is getting late…I don't think anyone else will be coming to the store today…shouldn't you close up?"_

"Yup, I should…but… I want to make sure…"

Landing lightly on the counter, Tear looked up to the other's determined face. Today, the girl had pulled stock the fairy had yet to see her place in her shop windows…she suspected the girl had been saving it all, for today, the last stand. Really, they should be issuing the check already; the pix for the day should have been counted…from the corner of her eye, the glint off a Breaker Sword caught her eye, right next to an Old Gramophone, their sheen was outclassed by a Crystal sword and the Daruma Doll on another counter…

"_Recette…I am certain you have enough…you ran your shop today like one possessed."_

"I know…but I want…I want to make sure. Papa won't have a house to come back to if I don't make sure."

Was that what drove her? Her father, the one who was most likely….well…She didn't want her mind to go there. Recette had shown her an unwavering resolve for this entire month, and she had done well; extremely so…

"Barrels."

"_Wh…What?"_

'Barrels…it smells of barrels. Charme, Elan?"

Oh; _that_. The fairy pulled a face. She wasn't fond of beer, for the very reason Recette was identifying it's presence. It stank of wood; barrels to be exact. Yet, even as her own nose picked up on the scent, she couldn't see anyone around, but then of course; it was dark. A jingle of a bell made Recette sit rod straight, and Tear take flight.

It was a bit eerie, but Recette could just make out two people walking in the store, one of which she never expected to see so late at night; the other she was counting on. Griff made himself known in the flickering candlelight.

"Hello, welcome to Recett-"

"**Ugh. Not even late at night do you drop that sunny air. I know where I am, thank you... I am looking for a weapon…a good one."**

"Ehehehe...I was hoping you'd come asking for that…I just managed to come across something just right for you…"

Eyebrows raised, the demon cast a measuring look on the young shopkeeper, giving out an air of waiting, but he still found some way to shoot her down when she ducked under the counter for the item in question…he didn't get very far though.

"**Don't waste my time. Your mysticism is equal to that of a bald faced boulder…what... The. Hell. Is that?"**

In front of him, on the counter, a truly vibrant claw of light cream had materialized. His eyes zoomed over the impossible craftsmanship of it, looking for a flaw, some kind of an indication to the hidden joke. Behind him, the other figure tapped an impatient foot, but his growl silenced that.

"Eh heh heh. I told you, it's just right for you! Thing is…it's really hard to come across Griff; it's expensive enough to make me woozy thinking about it, let alone how much I have to charge for it…"

"**This…is what I need."**

"800,000 pix then, Griff. I doubt you have that much though; if anyone could have that much on them at once…I'd be reeeeeally surprised."

"…**Then why name that figure then? Does it look like I'm here to play games?"**

Tear looked from one to the other; appalled. Just what kind of stock was Recette hiding in this shop? Why bring it out all on the last day of the debt? Wouldn't it have been so much better, less stressful to make payments…unless she only just acquired them…but…from where? That price…it was enough to nearly destroy the original debt her father had…in a single blow.

As Tear watched, Recette took the defensive side, her face falling.

"I name that price because it's a good one Griff. If you knew how much I had to go through to find a pair of these…785,000 then. You could put it in credit if you need too…"

"**Don't insult me. I have sufficient funds for something as…quaint as this. Not for such a price as you are offing however. I wonder if somewhere else is cheaper?"**

A coy little smile, Tear recognized the signs. The girl was getting what she wanted now, or she knew something the demon didn't. Her mind spinning, she tried to appraise the item Recette held in her hands so protectively…if she were theoretical, its base might be somewhere around 745,000…Recette was letting him get away with a steal of a price, and he didn't even realize it…! …If she was right that was…

"You know nowhere else is going to have something like this Griff…not anywhere close, and their prices…well, there's a reason I've been fast famous for being "cheap on price, rich on quality". 775,000, and _that's_ my final offer."

In the light, Griff looked amused, but a tad apprehensive. Those claws were calling to him, just like a treasure chest might do to Tear. Here, Recette showed that mysticism could be subjective; she looked positively shrouded in it, from behind him, a scoff was heard, and then a voice floated from "down below"

"Tch, whining over such a thing as price. You want it so bad, you should buy it, the price doesn't matter! If it were me, I'd be out the door already with that thing. Recette! Shoo this plebian out of my way, it's late, and I must have this before the day is done!"

The girl held up a delicate music box, the likes of which Recette had spent long hours cleaning and admiring once she had acquired it. Yet, she had put it up for today, never really expecting anyone to come in and attempt to buy it…it was another high valued item after all, a treasure worth…

"260,000 pix; Alouette, you can…oh carp."

Oh carp indeed, as the girl simply waved behind her, where a person whom Recette hadn't seen come in stepped forwards, dumping a large (and probably extremely heavy) sac on the floor, making it give off a solid _chink _of coin. You could fit a _body_ in the thing!

"I'm a bit short it seems. I brought 250,000 along. Still, easily remedied, I have the balance in higher value coins in my pockets, consider yourself fortunate that I am departing precious silver pix upon one such as lowly as yourself…sixty pieces of silver is what you need, correct?"

"F-fifty…fifty pieces."

"Oh ohohoho...right then…fifty it is. Hmmm; not bad for a prole…heh heh, price doesn't matter here…"

Her hand spilled the coin pieces at the same time a large bag of pure platinum pix was set on the counter. Recette stared at it before looking at the hand that grasped it. Griff was not going to be outdone by a human girl it seemed…behind her, Tear felt like fainting. She had hardly ever seen so much pix in one place…

"I'll take it. The claws."

Platinum Pix? Oh great. Recette didn't know how to handle that currency…swallowing, she called her famous line, one the fairy was expecting…but one she wasn't sure she was up to answering…that money swallowed her eyes whole.

"Tear!"

"_Ehh? Ahh! Y-yes…Platinum pix is a high end currency, one piece is equivalent to 5000 copper pieces. The price of 775000 pix in copper would be about 155 platinum, or 775 gold, or 3875 silver-"_

"Ueeeeh…you're making my head hurt!…I asked for Tear, not the cash register! Ehh? Oh! 155 pieces of this stuff then, right?"

"_S-something as valuable as this level of currency shouldn't be addressed in such an offhand matter as tha-"_

Griff reached for the claws and took them from Recette, depositing the bag for Recette to quickly count out a hundred and fifty five pieces…after handling coins for so long, she knew how much space twenty coins took up in her hands, and could accurately go from there…she gave Griff his money sac, considerably lighter, and bowed him off with her thanks, making a mental note of the two last purchases of the night.

She turned back to Tear, whose mouth was not officially wide open and hanging. The way the girl had just pulled off those sales…she hadn't even grazed the register with her sleeves. Everything with her hands and head…behind that ever present smile…what kind of mind was at work?

Speaking of that smile…

"Ehe ehe heh. Now we can close up for tonight Tear! I'm gonna sleep for the next month!"

"_Wh-what?.! You have orders to fill for tomorrow! Just because you've obviously paid off the debt by now doesn't mean it's over for you!"_

"Awwww…I know that…I was just sayin'…"

**+-~E~-+**

_Short and boring, yes, I know, but I have to start somewhere, don't I? There will be action to be had, next time around the bend. That is, of course, if you actually want me around here. Heh, I'll have to wait a bit though, Recettear's still new…ish. The demo was out since when but… _**~Finalage.**


	2. Chapter 1: Calling for a Hero

**_+{~RT~}+_**

Well, I suppose since this is burning in my head, like all stories do when they want to claw my eyes out, I might as well type. I own nothing here, not Recettear, not any one single license pertaining to anything…I am also one of those prevailingly poor writers whose just trying to dilute the burning need to get something out of the system while being stark poor and looking for some skills from school. The job I've got; but it's all for credit or volunteer.…

I meant to put more into the last chapter, but I kinda lost time, and I decided I'd stick it in the actual first chapter...speaking of which, I'm surprised. I actually got a review, within ten days of submitting a story, on the first chapter. Never happened before, people normally wait until my fifth or forth, thank you for that! My "typeface" style of writing is unique to me it seems, as I've done it for years but never seen anyone else do it. I'm thinking of dropping it, as Fan Fiction gets rid of all text styles after a while when they refresh their database of stories, seen it happen several times...

**_+{-~LSRA~-}+_**

**_Chapter One: Calling for a Hero._**

**_+{-~LSRA~-}+_**

_Hey! I'm not that boring! Wake up; I've only just started! No, **you** shut up, and listen, you could learn something... I don't care if you're older than me either, if you are….oh; you're hungry...No, don't bother getting up, or apologizing. There's not much to eat here, but look in my bag next to you, foods' in there…you're the one who asked me to tell this story … … …_

The night was beautiful, a deep blue with just a hint of purple to show where the sun had disappeared; beyond the horizon. Late; so much so that the stars were even beginning to fade... Soon it would be day time again, and with it, the first day or freedom for Recettear. Finally it could be called a business, her business. Until now it had just been a…well, some fancy word she didn't know…but Recette wasn't happy…not by a long shot, for freedom came with a price…as she looked up into the depth of the night, she knew Tear was in the house, packing her things.

She'd be alone again. Alone with nothing but the four walls she had fought so hard to keep as consolation. She almost wished papa's debt had been larger…at least she'd still have Tear to help her…her hands slipped into her pockets, where, low and behold, her stock records and profits for the month lay nestled deep.

Tear had given her several log books to keep her records in sales, but Recette never had the time, or the will, to so solidly document her history. What if someone stole the books, or changed the numbers when she wasn't looking? Keeping the records safe, near her where she could _feel them; _that made them real. It was one of the prime reasons Tear never actually knew what Recette was going to put up on those shelves…her actual inventory was a mystery to her, and trying to document it would be a headache for the fairy, for the girl kept her stock in all sorts of nooks and crannies; all over the house.

It was worse than a dungeon in here…but somehow, _somehow_…its owner knew where everything was, and exactly how much stock she had...sure, she might leave a lot to be desired in the realm of wit, but that just made her endearing to customers…

With a shake of her head, the girl pulled her mind from the piece of paper in her apron pocket, tossing it back out to bemoan her fate. It was true, she was labeled as an "established" merchant now, and known as a trustworthy one, a fair one…but she was sure that her ever present guide still had more to teach her…surely this wasn't all there was to it? A vending machine in the corner and the daily news, orders and customers to haggle with…there had to be more-

"_Recette?"_

Her bubbles almost smacked her in the eye as she spun on her heel, double time, to see Tear floating there, giving her a look Recette had deemed the death glare…normally, this would be the time the human would start to stutter, but something told her the look wasn't exactly aimed at her, more like past her, _through_ her.

She focused on the fairy's glowing wings, which were a lot easier to focus on than her eyes.

"I-I…wiped the counters already…and straightened the counters, fixed the rug and…and…stuffs…Oh! I blew out the candles and locked the door and didn't forget to put away the profits from the store! Hehe…uhh…Tear? …Teeeear…?"

Oh boy, this wasn't good. Her nerves were twisting themselves into oblivion now, for Tear never stayed silent like this unless something rea~lly bad was going to happen, or if she, Recette, had done something real stupid…It was so ominous that, when the fairy finally did open her mouth, eyes ablaze and all, the girl ducked, covering her ears.

"Don't shoot mee~!"

Needless to say, Tear rose an eyebrow, a bit surprised, but her surprise quickly turned into annoyance.

"_M-Merde…of all the things…Recette, what are you doing now? Shoot you? With what form of ammunition would I do such a thing? I just wanted to know if…"_

Sighing and shaking her head, her eyes lost their angry look, and her face softened just a tad.

"_I…just wanted to know if you had seen my green tie."_

"Ueehh? No fire and claws…ahh! G-green tie? …I've… never seen you wear a green tie before…Isn't it always yellowy-reddish?"

Again, the fairy sighed, and her wings dimmed slightly from exhaustion. Figures; she'd never worn it here, like she thought, which means it should be in her suitcase, but low and behold, the accessory wasn't there! Somewhere in this…godforsaken…shop….somewhere. She knew she had _brought_ the thing…

"_Never mind…it must be somewhere. Ugh, I should have started to pack last week, like I planned…"_

"E-eeeeh?.! N-no…You're…you're th-that eager to leave me?.!"

Realizing a bit late that her outspoken statement had landed a bit hard; she took a hasty backtrack, trying to rely on the human's famous forgiving nature. No, she hadn't been eager to leave her per se…well, actually, now that she thought about it, had she really been as eager as she thought? Why _hadn't _she started last week, like she had planned?

Really, Recette handled the shop well without her flying about, most she got to do was perform some customer service; either that or facing the counters…so why _hadn't_ she? Unbidden, her mouth twisted and squirmed…but she still managed to answer the girl in her usual snap.

"_If I had done so, I wouldn't be all over the house now, looking for everything I can't find. It's not eagerness to leave, it's practicality, I do not wait until the last minute to do something Recette, unlike you, my priorities are set…usually. I can only wonder what could have possessed me to wait so long until I began to pack."_

Spinning about on air, she tried to leave as quickly as possible, attempting to make her exit look like a storm, an individual leaving in a huff…for pride purposes if nothing else. She left Recette looking at the doorway, trying to figure the little fairy out. She wasn't eager to leave, so she says…so then what was it?

Again, her hands felt that piece of parchment in her pocket…

"Tear…why don't you ever talk to me…? Don't you trust me?"

**+-~1~-+**

The morning dawned bright and early, the day promised to be beautiful for the birds were singing even before the sun had a chance to completely rise. Recette had always loved to hear the sun rise. Yep; hear it rise. The birds, the wind, the sound of dew drops sliding down, if you listened, you could even hear the rays…they wavered like the wind, like fire…only kinder. Yet this morning, she wasn't up to hear the sun, nor was she sleeping her life away, the other obvious alternative to her mornings…no, today her ears weren't straining to capture the patter of the feet on a squirrel either…they were turned inwards.

She was on her bed, her ears pressed upon the pillow. Eyes wide open; she listened to the sound of her own heart. It seemed…so loud here, so big and powerful, a force nothing could stop. Yet thinking about going down there, to that shop, opening those doors to the world outside…alone…it made something in her stop moving.

Wasn't it supposed to be the heart that felt for you?

Well…Tear would put up a fight on that one…the heart didn't actually do anything but beat, according to her. Love came from the brain, as did everything else…but Recette had always disagreed. Forget the books for a second Tear, what part of you hurts when you're sad and alone? Not your head…your chest…

Grimacing, Recette sat up, letting the covers fall off her. Had she slept in her apron again? No, not this time, thankfully. Weird stuff almost always seemed to happen when she wound up sleeping in her apron…out of pure habit, she got up to go and make herself presentable and put on the aforementioned apron. She even began to think about what kind of stock needed to go out, and what needed to be taken down, thrown out, etcetera, etcetera…her mind was rushing ahead of her, entering into shop keeper mode without her wanting it too…hastily, she pulled back on habit, she didn't want to be feeling for any rotten oranges just yet.

No, instead, she was faced with the prospect of losing the only partner she had…one that had become, in her eyes, a "big" sister of sorts. Her one life line was gone too…Tear had found the green tie she had been missing, right where she had left it, in the suitcase, a side pocket. Unbidden, she felt that familiar clench; she knew her heart had woken up. It might have been sleeping before, but now? Nah, it knew what was going on.

Walking down the steps, she passed by a counter, her hands coming out to caress the edge of a Crystal Sword…sharp; but she had a practiced touch. Her eyes roved about the store, remembering how it has started, how tiny it had been. Compared to then, it was positively huge now. She walked up to a wall, feeling the design, the practiced care giving off the feeling of ancient ruins. Not a sound was made as she continued to walk, her hand still on the wall, her eyes on the brick floor. Today, she just might change the rugs and the counter cloths…she felt particularly "heretical" today.

By the window, on the second floor, Tear waited. Recette dreaded climbing those steps again, looking out to see her friend there, bobbing slightly from the beat of her wings. The last time she would see them…She looked up at the fairy watching her move more than listening to her talk. The suitcase more than anything else; that was what her eyes caught. Slowly swinging, a pendulum…

"_I am confident that you will make a grand shop keeper one day, Recette. Continue to work hard without me just as you have been and you'll be fine."_

"No…"

… _I'll be all alone again…_

"T-tear…"

"_You are now the rightful owner of this property, and all debts have been repaid, my work here is done…good bye Recette."_

…_I thought I told you…remember? I used to hate the night time…because I have to come home and be all alone. The silence, the emptiness…it will only be worse now, the store is so big…so…empty._

She seemed to be so slow, turning around with a simple wave, but the girl knew the fairy would be moving double time to get away…something told her that Tear wanted to get this over with…as quickly as possible…but she didn't want her to go…she took a step forewords, her elbow knocking over a stack of books on the table.

"Teeeeear don't go~!"

…_already, I feel alone, already…she's not even gone yet, but already the hole…the hole has come…_

Whipping around, Tear almost scolded her, but saw that she had taken another step and made a mess of herself by tripping over a book, becoming a heap of tangled limbs and flying paper. She recognized the stack of books as her record books, and sighed…until her eyes caught on the paper flying around.

Was she…seeing things? Please…tell her she was. Those pages _couldn't possibly be blank_. Not after she had told her, time and time again…lecturing, berating and ceaselessly stressing the point of keeping these things in order…they just _could __**not**__ be __**blank**__._ Recette mewled from somewhere on the floor, struggling to divest herself from the whirlwind of off white…but when she popped up, her momentary happiness of finding that Tear was still floating there was crushed like an eggshell under the tread of a bulldozer when she caught site of her face…her slowly reddening face and burning eyes.

Literally, she swore she could see her papa somewhere in a really high, cloudy place right now…and where those her children? Well, that's her life gone in a flash! She was brought crashing back to earth with a deathly roar, man; she never knew a fairy could be so loud!

"Recette…"

"Ummm…hi?"

"_These are your shop record books, aren't they?"_

"Umm…uh…well, I…I…uhh…hehe?"

"_These are…they are…_**_THESE ARE ALL BLANK!_**"

Her mind went white with fear, and she utterly forgot about the piece of paper still in her apron. Sputtering worse than a rusty shower head, she struggled to come up with some kind of plausible excuse that would save her hide from being used as a new tent for the fairy. She might have actually blew it by remembering about the paper if Tear hadn't cut her off.

"_Oooh, forget it, come on, we have to take inventory and check it against our funds to make sure no one is robbing us blind, come on, move!"_

"U-us? But I-I thought you-"

"_I can see now that if I leave you for just one day, you'll be crushed under the weight of capitalism and be snuffed out like a fly before you can even make a peep. It's my responsibility to make sure you know what __you're doing, which you obviously don't!"_

"So…so you're…"

"_Just grab a pen and get that book, we've no time to waste! I'm not going anywhere! I'll work you just as hard as I always do, for as long as you're still standing, I promise you that!"_

"Y-yes ma'm!"

**+-~2~-+**

"Tear, you promised!"

Feeling like an utter fool, the fairy spun on her heel in the air, fixing Recette with a leveling look. To anyone else, she might have suspected that they had tricked her, but not Recette…she wasn't capable of tricking anyone. No, in all honesty, she, Tear, had assumed and attacked the girl, making her forget everything and become a mess of tears and sputter. Charme had called her an oddball once…well; make that more of a blubber ball.

Still, she had promised, and now she was effectively trapped…by her training and honor if nothing else. Knowing the girl, she'd be up all night for the next week just to make sure Tear didn't run away if she had too, and she knew the girl had it in her to do that. Clingy thing, Recette was; she didn't like to be left alone…

All the inventory keeping had ground to a halt, the feverish scratching of ink on paper dying dramatically, all because Recette had struck her hand in her pocket mid-stride and pulled her records out. Recette had acted like a paranoid merchant, hiding her records, keeping them close to her to prevent tampering. It was a smart move, a devastatingly smart one to the saboteur…and who, _who… _expected Recette to be smart?

That...is exactly why it was devastating. Tear had fallen for it too, and the girl had done it so well that she herself had fallen for it, which was scary…Tear just swallowed what pride she had bruised and continued to take inventory…her numbers came out drastically different than Recette's, stock wise, but something told her that she shouldn't doubt the ridiculous numbers the girl had. Who knew what was lurking in the basement? Eight Crystal Swords? Sure, she only saw three, but…

The fairy watched as the girl smoothed out the creases on the drapes she had placed on the counter, expertly fishing items from the shelves that the news had deemed low priced and scurrying into the back, where she would return with items in the normal range…only today Sweets were high priced, meaning Recette was loading many of the front counters with high end treats…and bickering about the weather, for the sun might make her good spoil.

No worry there however, those were fresh. The only reason the girl was flitting about like a mother hen was to avoid Tear's glare, and the fairy knew it. She watched as the girl almost tripped over a snarl in the rugs, and then bent down busily to fix it. If the girl had wings, she'd do well…

The shop opened a bit earlier than normal, but customers were never short, even in the early morn, the Guild-master stopped by to place an order for five weapons. People really trusted Recette it seemed…the only thing bad about that is that Recette didn't exploit that trust to the fullest…and claimed that was a good thing in itself.

A few customers passed by, but the one that caught Tear's attention today was Arma. She wasn't behaving normally, picking up things and then putting them down, as if unsure…she glanced towards the door more than once with a fervent look in her eyes too…without explanation, she headed towards the counter, only to turn one eighty once A customer ahead of her reached there first, and zoom out, almost literally flying out of the shop. The fairy didn't comment on it, but she saw Recette look after the path the automaton had taken, her eyes showing concern. Yet she was anchored to her place, and her eyes were soon taken by the form of Louie, who seemed to find the fact that Breaker Swords were in stock a legendary opportunity. The girl only smiled with a tinkle of a laugh and sold it to him at a proper discount, even if he already had a Demonblade at his side.

The boy seemed to think he could wield two weapons if he tried hard enough…so far he was failing miserably, none the less, the boy tried, and no one could doubt he'd gained some formidability to himself by Recette's own hands, hiring him to forge into the dungeons so often…still; he was an airhead at best.

When he was gone, the weapon secured in his hands, Recette breathed a sigh of relief. Like always, the morning was when her brain was put to the test, while it was hardly awake no less, with an onslaught of orders. People loved to make orders in the mornings…or sell things. Late at night too…she looked over the piece of paper she had been using to quickly scribble down the orders people wanted, all of them coming rapid fire. Was it the old man who wanted three treasures, or was it the housewife? No, she wanted two clothing items…or was it that she wanted three clothing items and the old man wanted two treasures…?

Shaking her head violently to rid it of cobwebs, she got up from her stool, bending down to squeeze her calves, they fell asleep if she crossed them under the stool and hooked them behind the bar…but she always did it anyway…she walked a bit awkwardly towards the door, planning on locking it while she organized some wares, but she never got that far, her nose was still in the paper when the door shot open right into her face; sending her flying backwards against a counter.

"Ehh?.! Ahh! Ouchies…aw~...hey! WHAT'S THE BIG IDE- Euhh? Arma!"

Yep, she was back again, and this time, her face definitely set off alarm bells ringing in Recette's head, more than even the sound of her throbbing nose.

"_I…I would like to buy something." _

Buy something? That was it? Just buy something? There was something else to the equation, there must be. The girl was shaking like a leaf, and I don't mean the one on the floor…Recette got up as quickly as her legs would allow, almost bumping her head on the ledge of her counter. Arma seemed to relax slightly, though she offered no help, nor did she show any real concern, but her eyes were clouded…

Choosing up an item seemingly at random, her fingers closed upon a book. It was the Doomsday book, minus all the extra "o" 's. Recette scampered to the counter to ring it up, but once again, Arma never got that far. She slowed to a stop, mumbling something too low to hear. Her head down, you couldn't get a look at her eyes…until she snapped back up however, and dropped the book like a hot potato.

"A-Arma…?"

Her eyes were different…harsher. Her voice seemed rougher too. She spoke a whole lot about things Recette didn't really understand, that is, until she hit on something closer to home. The dungeons… She was saying stuff about someone trying to control her, and that if she let them they'd be able to control the dungeons through her…she was the one who formed them when someone stepped in, gave them shape…that was…incredible.

But wait! If that was true then everything that had happened, the-the Obsidian Tower, the medicine at Amber Garden…no way…it couldn't all be her! She hadn't really ever given thought to the dungeons before…more than that they were supposed to be "alive" and you could go in there to get treasure…but really, as Tear pointed out to her, why would something alive behave that way, and give out treasure like that, in chests no less?

Good question. Really, really good question, one she didn't have an answer for…Recette's confusion was whipped away however, as soon as Arma claimed she was going to remove herself from Pensee to be decommissioned. She wouldn't be shopping in Recettear anymore…but…Arma loved shopping. It sounded silly, but she did! Recette knew that…it's not like Arma needed all those swords and staffs she bought…the girl turned around to leave, but Recette stopped her cold.

She'd be coming to save her. No way was she going to let her just disappear.

Not that she really had any idea what was going on, but…

Arma was in trouble, and Recette wanted to help her…

The golem seemed to break a slight smile, just a small chink in her control…but it was gone in an instant, and the girl wasn't sure if it had even been there…but; as Arma left, the light caught on a bracelet she wore, one that probably had a real hard time getting on. The Maidens Bracelet…

Around here, Recettear was the only one who carried that in stock…

**+-~C~-+**

"_I wanted to go right then, but I couldn't. Tear would have yelled at me, and it was too late for me to safely hire an adventurer. Sure, I could have, but what time would they have come home? They'd be very angry with me…and I had no idea how long of a trip it would be, trying to save Arma…no, I had to be smart here; I had to plan. _

_I was going into the heart of all dungeons after all, the place where, perhaps, all of Pensee's magical reserves and control lied. I needed to prepare…ohh, you're wide awake now, huh? Figures. Action and…aww, what was it again? Strife? That's probably it. Action and Strife are always the most interesting to the observer._

_What? Who said that? You'll find out later...I see you helped yourself to the pack."_

**+-~E~-+**

_Way too long, it took way to long to write this. It's too short again, but longer than the first time...I'm still disappointed though. Something this long, I can type in about an hour and a half if I go nonstop...but I didn't, I don't have that kind of time anymore...I don't seem to have time for anything any more...not good._

_Anyway, I planned to put more here, but looks like it's going to have to be next chapter again. Dang it, I wanted to be in the dungeons already...Well, I'm off again, see you all next time... ~Finalage._


	3. Chapter 2: Determination

**_+{~RT~}+_**

_Another review! Make it longer? If you mean the chapters, then I'd gladly try for you, my average chapter length seems to be around three thousand words, but I only consider a chapter semi-good if it's around eight thousand...Most of the time, chapters I am happy to submit length wise are ten thousand or more...hey, I'm not saying I'll slam you with a wall of text, but I'll give you some more depth if you want it! _

_I do not, in anyway, own anything having to do with Recettear, although; I do wonder where they got "Oh carp" from, I've been saying that one for over a decade...but, I'm pretty sure it was drawn from somewhere else anyway! ~Finalage._

**_+{-~LSRA~-}+_**_  
_

**_Chapter Two: Determination & Might… Make right?_**

**_+{-~LSRA~-}+_**

Loneliness…it was a monster Recette knew well. So well, it scared her to the very core...It kept her up at night, that loneliness, only this time it was out of sorrow. Empathy; her thoughts that night ran through a loneliness that wasn't hers, the loneliness she felt from Arma, who knows how far away…

Or at least that's what her mind spun a tale for.

She wouldn't let another suffer like that, not while she slept peacefully in a bed. No. She packed up her bags, and ran about in the late night to the Merchant's Guild…of all the things she could do, fusion of items had become a kind of hobby for Recette...

How did she end up with so many Maiden's Bracelet's after all? She was the only steady supplier of that item, and with good reason. Gilded swords, odd trinkets, rare, powerful things...Sometimes it was simple as reading a recipe and mixing ingredients together, others needed the power of a forge, and still more required Recette to use the power locked inside crystals, magic she herself wasn't trained to use, but the result was always...exciting.

The market was a place to get food and common accessories, The Merchant's Guild; that was were you got armor and weapons, general clothing items. Yet, for Recettear...it was called an item shop because you never knew exactly what would be on those shelves...but you could be certain there would always be something that you couldn't get anywhere else in Pensee, not easily anyway.

The Master kept the Guild open and the forge warm, most of the time; it seemed he did it just for her. She was the only regular in the late nights after all. True, as a shop keeper she had pockets that could be thought deep, she had all of her shops funds at her disposal...but really? As Recette stepped into the Guild, shaking free her hair from her eyes and shivering from the light mist, the Guildmaster would lead her to the forge like a father would his daughter to the hearth.

The Guildmaster may use the excuse that he was avoiding his wife, maybe even that Recette was a good customer, but in truth he did have a paternal instinct for the lone girl. He was always there to offer advice and guidance after all...

_"Recette, what are you doing running around without a raincoat on? You could cat-"_

"I could catch a cold, I know, I know...aww; Tear told me the same thing yesterday. It's only a drizzle, and this is a matter of life and death Guildmaster!"

She always used words so lightly. A matter of life and death huh? The girl shook more water droplets from her hair, absently brushing some of it out of her eyes as she tugged out her fat little book from an apron pocket. It was a wonder that thing fit in her pockets in the first place, but...it contained all of her fusion recipes and techniques, as well as her stock numbers and calendar, her one stop for information...her fingers expertly slid open the book to the correct page. Her eyes alight, she looked to the man in front of her, and showed him the writing. It looked unfamiliar to him, but by now, Recette had risen pretty high in the standings of Merchant "level" or prestige.

_"A matter of life and death! That's quite a claim. Are you sure about that one?"_

She had access to all of his exclusives; he had 'long" accepted her as a prodigy in this business, this "art". It didn't surprise him when she pulled from her pack a heavy looking blade. It seemed to hum in her hands, and he wasn't sure in the fire's glint, but it also appeared to glow. He peeked in to her bag to see a mass of fire crystals gathered there, that pack must be uncomfortably warm inside and out... the man didn't miss the glint of excitement in the younger's eyes.

"I'm heading somewhere, somewhere dangerous...I want my adventurer to have the best I can offer. I got this not too long ago...the crystals I've been saving. I don't like to throw anything away Master...nothing but spoiled food wares, and I can't even really get the chance to do even that anymore."

Her hands were steady as she held that blade. In a different world, with a different calling, she might have tried to be a swords-woman, she hadn't the trained skill, no; but she had the natural grace, and from running her shop, she had a measure of strength; nothing really, but it could give her an edge against beginners.

Still; her hands were shaking with the effort.

She tossed the fire crystals in one by one, stirring the fire with each addition, provoking the fire to become hotter with each one's power. She closed her eyes every time she did this, picking up another from her bag, focusing...almost as if she had magic to infuse into it. Well, maybe she had. All creatures had a magic in them, and a driving life force...only they weren't trained to use them, didn't have the natural talent...

_According to Calliou though; Recette was so dense, he wouldn't be surprised if she would survive an explosion from magical radiation. _

_He claimed the energy would just bounce right off her._

The heat from the fire beat the Master back, but the youth, shining face and all, stayed put. He feared she'd burn her own skin off with that heat, but she just stuck another crystal in, stirring the fire fiercer still. Ten went in before she finally picked up the blade she had let rest on the sides. Grabbing some binding dust, a magical powder used to prime for fusion, she dusted the weapon before thrusting it in the fire, throwing sparks that stabbed at the Master's eyes.

A cry, one that didn't seem to come from her, but rather the forge itself. Finally, the girl had grabbed the smith's gloves. She hardly ever used those things, but he was certain that the heat would have burned her fingers off this time around, and her mind seemed to run along the same. She grasped the hilt of the weapon in the forge, and steadied its movement.

She braced herself against the rug and thrust it forwards with all her strength; making it explode into the hearth, throwing off sparks worse than most roman candles would dare. The binding dust made the girl throw up an arm to cover her eyes, the normally soft "poof" turning into something more like a boom. The Guildmaster cried out, but he hardly heard his own voice.

The fire seemed to extinguish almost instantly when the girl flashed her arms into the heat. Such was the nature of a fusion, a magical binding...it knew when it was ready, and a good forge knew it too. The girl braced herself again, giving a mighty heave that sent her sprawling against an armchair when her hands slipped.

Mewling from her place by the chair, she struggled to untangle herself from an undignified heap as the Guildmaster approached. Grabbing the gloved from where they had flown form her hands when she slipped, he gripped the hilt in his forge, and pulled easily. The blade slid forwards, but it didn't leave the hearth. Furrowing his brow, he tried again with the same result. Recette came up to join him in his effort, and once her bare hand touched the blade, the master stumbled back, almost falling over her, the sword in hand.

Just a rock, it had been stuck under a rock...right?

"He...who draws this...He who draws this is a hero."

Grunting, the man allowed his eyes to read the inscription the girl was reciting. Bold claim to make it was, saying that whomever it was that drew this blade as theirs was a hero. From what he had seen, it was the man that made the weapon good, not the weapon that made good the man...but he was thinking too deep into things, wasn't he?

"This is..._heavy...! _How can Louie _hold_ these things...?"

**+-~1~-+**

_"Wow, Recette...this is awesome! What is all this stuff called? Can I use all of this on this adventure? Sweet! Dang, this is kinda heavy, but; it's got really good balance on it! This hat looks weird though...but I suppose it's better than looking like Santa all the time...The shield looks cool too..."_

The girl stood awkwardly with her pack full of food and healing items. Her apron was stuffed full of ointments and the like too, and anyone who would see her would think her quite foolish looking, especially with all of the sacks hanging from her oversized belt. Yet, those who thought that wouldn't know her. The girl was well versed in how a dungeon worked, and she knew there was a delicate balance between being prepared and being burdened.

If she were going anywhere else, she'd say she was overburdened. This was the unknown though; you could never be too prepared for that...Recette handed Louie a small pouch of twenty five silver pix, he weighed it thoughtfully before peering in and smiling as she picked up his Demonblade and Runic Defender to put in her pack, only pausing to fold his Santa's hat neatly before stuffing that in there too.

_"I should have known better, but I was kinda suspicious when I felt this bag being so light. Dang Recette, this is silver you're giving me! Silver! I'm swimming here! This equipment and this money...this is more than my fee, it's gotta be..."_

"It is; but not by much Louie...your registered fee is 4,876 pix. That's forty thousand. Only I'm finding it hard to lug around that many copper pieces now, especially since my goods carriage got stolen...now I have to go back and forth with goods in my hands all the time, so I appreciate the weight of everything...are you going to take the job, Louie?"

_"Forty thousand? Forty__** Thousand?**__ Whoa, where'd that kinda dough get factored in?"_

"The fee pays for seven days Louie, plus some for staying out at night. I'm guessing this will take more than a single afternoon to finish...like Obsidian Tower...only we don't have time to keep coming back this time...are you going to take the job Louie?"

The swordsman let the bag of pix fall unto a table, looking at the hundred pieces of silver winking at him as he picked up the Holy Sword, and admired the Ishtoril on his head with the slight reflection he got off the blade. He jammed the sword into his scabbard before hefting the Amber Shield he had been given. Smiling, he slipped the bag of pix from the table to his belt, and nodded an affirmative to the girl next to him.

_"Take the job? Consider me there already! I wouldn't miss this for the world! Well; maybe for a good Beef Bowl, but definitely not for the world! Look out Arma, Louie the swordsman has been hired for this job! Damsel in distress saving, yeah! When do we go Recette?"_

Tear interjected into this one, cutting off both her own prolonged silence and Recette's speech with a flap of impatient wings. The fairy landed on the table that a certain bag of silver pix had just left, and looked up at the ragtag swordsman.

"As soon as possible, preferably now. Lucky for you it wasn't yesterday, that's when Recette wanted to go...when it was already nearly afternoon I might add..."

Recette pulled an embarrassed face, but the boy just looked at Tear oddly. He didn't mind starting an adventure in the early afternoon...it wasn't like he had an exciting home to go back to anyway...just a hotel where he washed the dishes and cleaned for his daily lodge, double for the fact that it was a friend in need...but he kept quiet, because he knew most adventures wouldn't agree with him...double _that one_ for the fact that it was a multi-day trip.

_"Now? Well, that sounds fine by me! Let's blow this Popsicle stand!"_

"Popsicle stand...?"

Surprised, the boy looked at Recette's confusion at the saying. It was common place where he'd come from...oh, right. He was the immigrant here...sheepish, he shrugged his shoulders.

_"A stand like at the market place, only this one sells flavored ice. It was a common thing where I used to live, it was colder up there, and making stuff outta ice was kinda a way to live in the winter...it tasted good when you put enough flavor on it though...could kinda go for one now that I think about it..."_

Louie continued to ponder this dilemma as Recette unfurled a map of the places they had discovered to far. Of them, the map was nearly full, save for a single mountain, one beautifully ominous mountain. The Lapis Ruins. From where they were, the fastest way to get there would be through the bridge and skirting the Obsidian Tower from the east...

Less thinking and more doing Recette...It seemed that one moment she had her hands spread across solid oak, and the next, she was rolling up her map to wipe her brow, a massive mountain ruin in front of her eyes. From here, the only way to go was down…way down…

…

Deep down in the dungeons, another story was unfolding for none but the strongest of eyes to see. Aval allowed himself a smile as he watched from his "throne" miles away, safe and sound while a sole man worked feverishly with a machine beneath him. Whatever the thing was, it was old and required an extreme amount of magic to be kept running…a price several mages had already paid dearly for.

That wasn't any of Aval's concern though. His work needed to be done after all, and his hands would always stay clean at the end of the day. All he cared for was the screen the object had, a huge display that was his portal into the heart of the deepest of dungeons surrounding Pensee…The Lapis Ruins.

Here, magic; and, consequentially, power, ran deep…so deep it struck at the core of this entire area's economy. If one were to breech that core, they'd control all that power…all of that magic to bow upon the will of one master…

Shaking his head, the "President" of Terme Finance dismissed his own foolish thoughts with a wave of a hand. He had no time for magic, not really. He used it to get something else, something more… devastating. Influence.

Control all the magic that controlled the dungeons and you practically owned the entire market. A quiet monopoly, one that was hardly noticeable and yet; shockingly vital. Squeeze just a little here and…

A groan interrupted the president's mulling, and he looked up just in time to see one of his current line of mages slink down to the ground in a slow faint. Useless…but perhaps it wasn't the mage that was the useless one…his eyes shot at the man upon the machine, just as the worker glanced up to him.

"I would advise some haste into your routine my friend, I do not have an unlimited supply of mages to fuel your experiments after all, and your failure would be…unpleasant…for both of us; you understand.

The other gave no answer, but his fingers flight along the strange devices controls were a decidedly swifter pace when he turned back around, and his posture was even more feverish than before. Aval allowed a small smile to play upon his lips, motioning a silent fairy to float on by towards the man, a slow weapon aiming for the back of the neck. Just a simple slice, nothing to drastic…and the man would be paralyzed…when the time comes of course…

Sitting back in his chair, the president allowed his eyes to wander back to the screen and watch as a single automaton fought desperately against the attacks against her mind, her body automatically extraditing itself away from the light and into the darkness of quarantine.

At the end of the day, his hands were still clean.

**+-~2~-+**

"Louie, look out, to your left! No, not _my _left!"

Louie ducked off to the right, smacking straight into a horde of Kobolds. He only had just enough time to turn around and slam up his shield before a hail of stones flew his way. Yeah, maybe one day he should sit down and explain to Recette how he lost his sense of left and right when he got caught up in the moment…not now though, slime coming through!

Louie spun around full circle, his blade glowing due to catch ablaze as it slammed into the chests of oncoming Kobolds, slicing right through a mass of jelly known as slimes for good measure. Crystals went flying all over the place before they flew towards him, he always wondered where they went when they impacted on his skin…hey, sometimes he wished they would act like food and fill him up, that would solve all his problems right there!

…No, then he'd be fat. Dang, why did life have to be so-bees at ten o clock!

Louie had learned that trying to aim at bees while flying around in the air was pointless, they were too high and he just wasn't fast enough, so he stood still, readying his blade for that tell tale time when they came down just a little bit for a charge…there!

Arching his blade quickly, he slashed it out forwards, sending a shock-wave of mana into his flying foes, which shut them up pretty fast buzzing wise. Louie turned around, relieved…but his relief only lasted a split second, for the ground erupted underneath him, a mushroom monster sending him flying into a wall with authority.

"Louie, are you okay?"

Said wall was talking to him. It took him a bit to realize that the mushroom had sent him flying almost into Recette…almost. She was insubstantial behind the barrier anyway, so he couldn't see her…the first time a monster sent him flying near her, the girl had stayed eerily silent after asking him if he was okay…turned out later on that he had hit his head right where she had been standing, _right where_ she was standing…

He thanked his lucky_** stars **_he couldn't see or touch anything inside a barrier; he doubted Tear would have let him live otherwise…he understood Recette's embarrassment though; she could see the whole picture after all…

Tear had let him go with a bump on the head for good measure though, telling him that he had scarred the girl for life…but he can't damage anything in a barrier though…

He was too afraid to ask where Recette had gotten a scar too…

The boy pulled himself back to the present with a cough and nodded to where he heard the voice from. Yeah, he was okay. He pulled himself up just in time to see an orange fly through the air and land in the crook of his arm that held up his shield. Dutifully he took a bite of the thing. It was sweeter than he was used to, so it dripped a bit.

"We probably should take a bit of a rest to regain some stamina for the next horde of monsters that come our way…"

"I thought we can't stay on one floor too long though, Tear?"

Tear shut her eyes against the girls ignorance of the working of the world and rose a finger in lecture.

"Ordinarily yes. However, since this is a multiple day trip, our lease on the barrier is quite extensive, so we can stay for quite a bit longer than normal on a place we chose for resting…"

"_Uhh…that still doesn't solve the problem of me getting attacked by big balls of floating fire like the last time you wanted me to go after a chest all the way in the corner of a hallway, Tear…"_

You could almost see the memory smack the fairy head on and slide down her face, for she was stock still as a statue, her eyes still closed and her finger still testing the air. Recette picked up the slack here though.

"…I'm guessing that Louie can come in the barrier with some kind of special permission or something?"

The fairy revived somewhat, but she was still exasperated. Her mouth twisted slightly before she answered the young merchant.

"…In a sense, you are correct. One of us has to pull him in by partway stepping out. It's the same process as if he were to faint, as he did when we first went to the Hall of Trials…only once he's in he has to stay in until the next day comes around. It's all relatively simple-"

Louie opened his mouth to protest Tear's return fire shot, but he didn't get the chance to speak, for Recette seemed to brighten up before her brow furrowed and she cut Tear off; she had been struck by a sudden revelation.

"Uhh…sooo why can't we just pull Louie in and run to the end of the Dungeon with him inside? Wouldn't it be easier to save Arma that way?"

Blinking, the fairy was struck dumb but this sudden observation. Only…only Recette. It was such a simple and stupid thing to think about, was that even possible? Who thought like that? Everybody always followed the rules…but was there something to prevent you from not following the standard? The fairy found herself stammering. Louie looked from one invisible female to the next.

Not that he had any say in this, but it seemed like a brilliant idea to him...but Tear didn't seem to want to bite.

"I-I…I'm not sure if that's possible. No. There is a fail-safe for that; there must be one. Besides, we have no idea what kind of monsters lie ahead, and floors where the strongest monsters lie still need to be cleared out before one can continue…no, It is impossible. Who knows if Louie is strong enough to fight the force that has captured Arma in the first place? He must train and gain strength Recette. You can't take the easy way out…yes, that's it."

So Louie stayed outside the barrier for the while, continuing to throw himself at the monsters that came his way, but his "zeal" didn't last too long. He had never stayed in a dungeon for so long after all, and Recette quickly pulled him from the fight as soon as the day settled into late afternoon...

It was true that they needed to hurry, but it would be no good to push Louie until he snapped. They had already gone down what must have been twenty floors by now, and the slime, dust...the blood itself was bogging them all down. Recette had found her pack getting heavier and heavier through it all, and it wasn't a pleasant weight.

She wasn't here for treasure, but it kept cropping up, and not just any treasure...sinister treasure. The girl sat down just in time to see a Kobold turn the corner and approach. Louie grabbed his sheathed blade but Recette managed to touch his arm in time. The monster simply walked right by them, actually passing through the half drawn blade.

"_This...this is weird. Almost too weird. It's ignoring me..."_

"Not ignoring, it can't see you."

"_...Still weird. I mean If an adventurer had this as an ability..."_

Recette let go of his arm as he slammed his blade back into it's sheath.

"Griff kinda does when he runs."

"_Does he?"_

He looked off into the darkness as he asked this, and the other couldn't help but shiver a little. It was cold in this dungeon, and Louie had that look in his eye, the one he always got when it came to adventure, to power. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out some ingredients for the meal they'd be eating this night, her hands accidentally brushing by an Iron bracelet and a few bee traps on her way.

Maiden's Bracelets...

_We're coming Arma. I did promise you that...didn't I?_

**_+-~C~-+_**

_I'm boring you now, aren't I? Well, I do have to explain things before I tell you the exciting stuff, don't I? ...Hmm? Oh, Louie. He was...is, was...is...you know, I can't really tell what his status is anymore in regards to me...but he was my friend then, and the first adventurer I ever hired...Tear? I thought I explained who Tear was already...she's a fairy who I befriended after she tried to take away my house...sounds stupid huh? Oh, you want to know about Aval too huh? Patience. I'll tell you, just calm down..._

**_+-~E~-+_**

_Chapter was taking too long, so I decided to upload. I should have put more in it, I know, I should have given more action too, but there was simply no time. I'm running very busy now a days...too busy for my own good. I feel like I'm losing my mind, I keep forgetting where I put things or if I did something already...I had to go check my doors three times because I couldn't remember if I locked them! Not good, luck y I can take a rest today..._

_~Finalage, out._


	4. A Penny Saved

**_+{~RT~}+_**

Wha? I received reviews? I didn't even know…I got not alerts! Well…I'll have to fix this then, won't I? Lucky I never deleted this…

**_+{-~LSRA~-}+_**

**_Chapter Three: A Penny Saved._**

**_+{-~LSRA~-}+_**

_"Dodge!"_

"Gah! Freakin...FLAPJACKS!"

Jumping back from a speeding arrow, Calliou barely had time to duck under a stream of flaming ones that had been sent his way. He watched them fly down the path and slam into some dirt walls. His hands charged with magic, he spun around to meet empty air.

"Elves...to damn fast for their own-WHERE ARE YOU NOW DAMNIT?.!"

_"Here!" _

"Huh...WHA?.!"

Calliou found himself dancing to avoid a hail of golden rain, and he _still _couldn't see where Tielle had disappeared too. He perked his ears at a small snicker and smiled. There. Right behind that...

"Tree!"

An explosive force flew from his body on all sides, blasting through the enchanted wood and cuffing the hidden elf in the midriff, making her fly. Smiling, the mage aimed and sent a hail of shots at her airborne form. Pummeled, she fell into some bushes, and Calliou charged up for another shot, calling out:

"Oi! I've got you now, so stand up and take your beating already!"

Groggy, Tielle got up to a crouch in the bushes, trying to guess where the mage was without losing her cover. Got her, did he? She'd see about that one!

Moving as quietly and smoothly as she could, she circled in the bushes until she could get a good look at her target. Calliou had a tense, spindly neck, and arrow there would make him gag, teach him sense. Not in the front, that's too delicate, the back. She rose her bow just above the line of bushes, curling her tongue to the side of her mouth as she aimed.

_Just enough to knock him over, not too much...there. Go!_

Calliou looked about; the silence was driving him up the wall. Heck; if he had actually hurt the elf seriously, he'd lose his ears to Recette and her nagging, and his relationship with the counter jockey was already strained...so much so that it was reflected with his gold purse.

Now, to be fair, the girl was a good jockey, and gave fair enough prices, but he noticed that the figures she normally named for his purchases tended to have a slightly higher markup...maybe. He would admit, arithmetic wasn't his strong point.

He tried to complain to the fairy, but she just gave a half smile and said she had no control over Recette.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Wasn't the girl her employee?.!

"Uhh...Tielle, where are...hmm? Oh shoot!"

It was the retort of the bow that made him spin around and his eyes widened before he banked off to the side, avoiding the volley of three hell bent arrows. His magic already primed, he shot off a blast at the elf before he switched tacks, forming ice as a shield against more of her arrows.

He kept having to take steps back to form his ice fast enough though, and he soon found his back dangerously close to a dirt wall.

Quick as he could, he slid sideways off it, using the barrier as his escape route from another volley from Tielle, almost tripping up over a rock as he did so. If there was one thing that his "friends" told him, it was that he was too slow; clumsy.

As his power gathered in his hands and he regained his balance to face the elf, he grit his teeth. He hated people making fun of him. He was a mage, and regardless of speed, if he caught you with one of his spells…full bore, you hardly stood a chance.

He barely dodged a line of flaming arrows that were sent his way, but he managed to get as close as he dared to the elf to let loose a powerful blast spell. He was dismayed though, for Tielle reacted like lightning to his attack, keeping her ground and flashing out her bow faster than he could perceive, knocking the wind out of him with a blunt blow from the butt of her arrow.

Three more quickly followed the first, and then the elf shot off another three, making the young mage hit the dirt butt first. She was over him in a flash, her bow half taut and an arrow poised for his nose. Her smile told him he was gonna pay for this one today. Damn.

"I win! You promised!"

Like a little freakiin' kid she was…he hated to say this, but she was worse than Recette…a whole lot worse. At least the airhead store girl had a steady job she did really well, one that required a brain…his wallet was going to cry today…Winner bought lunch.

…and he really had wanted those Spirit Robes he'd seen in Recettear the other day!

Oh well, lucky for him no one else could buy it either. The place had been closed yesterday, and was fixing to look closed today too…he wondered if the fairy had gone out for a vacation or something and couldn't leave the girl alone? No, he hadn't seen Recette either…but who took their counter jockey on a vacation with them and left their store unmanaged?

**+-~1~-+**

"Hold still…Louie! I said hold still…"  
"_Gahh, I FREAKIN HATE THOSE FLYING JELLYFISH THINGS!"_  
"Shh, the thingies are gone Louie…now hold sti-"  
_"__YeeeOW! …Ow. That stings. What is that stuff?"_

Pausing in her work of trying to patch the boy up, Recette took a glance at the ointment she was using. It was for cuts and bruises, stings especially…but really, what was it? What made it go? It was a good question, but she didn't have time to worry about it…she just applied some more of the stuff to the rag she was using, and applied the result to the boy's shoulder, making him yelp afresh. They had decided after the jelly had assaulted them that they might as well take a good rest. Louie never did well against Jelly monsters…tentacles from the sky, too high to reach until they come down for the kill…it was no wonder Louie didn't like seafood.

Taking a glance around, Recette wondered where the dungeon came up with all this stuff, or, more accurately, where the golems that ran it came up with the stuff. Jellyfish that flew in the air, random flying fish that assaulted you like they had been thrown, avalanches of rocks, giant slimes and flying eyes…nightmarish stuff. The worst thing you could do to her was give her dreams about that jelly getting a hold-noooo don't go there.

Shaking her head violently, she unconsciously answered a question Louie had asked her, a skill she had picked up from being a crash course merchant, but her skill only extended so far…

"40 pix."  
_ "Uhh…okay. I didn't really need you to appraise it tho'…I only wanted to know what you thought of it."__  
_"HeWha?.! Oh…I'm sorry. I was thinking of something else…it's a nice stone Louie, it is. Really shiny from the water beating it up…"

A bit nonplussed, she pulled his collar back up to cover his shoulder, and went to the edge of the ground to wash her hands. No, she had no idea how clean the water was, but she didn't have much of a spread to choose from, did she? Louie looked after her thoughtfully, still looking at the shiny stone he'd picked up. It was pretty. Simple as that.

Tear, who watched the two from the sidelines, shook her head. The girl was distracted, and Louie wanted attention. Normally they would annoy her with their uncanny ability to seem like mirror images, but the boy's inability to figure out his compatriot's mood irked her too. Now wasn't the time to play, and no one had given Louie the memo.

She brought the two to attention with little effort though, and got them to move to the next floor, which was eerily quiet. Compared to the other floors, this one was…tense. All around them was dark, and there wasn't a single monster in sight…

They continued like this for a while, Louie jumping like a nervous rabbit at every sound, almost running his sword through a wall, (Or at least trying to do something similar.), when he stepped on something that cracked under his boots.

The nameless dripping of water was even worse.

When they finally reached the portal for the next floor, he was a mess, and they stepped through with caution into a much brighter floor, one that assaulted the boy right off the bat with a couple flying eyes and tentacle monsters. He was so quick to jump at them; Recette almost thought he was glad to see them. Crystals flew everywhere like hail in a high pitched wind. A FinFang landed near Recette's feet, as did several random toothpicks.

Yah know; she never understood those toothpicks. Of all things for a Knighted monster to carry…toothpicks…it made no sense.

That wasn't important though. What was important was their progress. Recette admitted that it was a bit hard to keep track of floors when monsters kept attacking you every few seconds, but by her count, this was the third day in, but more importantly, it was the 48th floor. The only other dungeon that had been this long was the Obsidian Tower, and Recette had the feeling that this one was nowhere near done with them…

**_+-A-+_**

Well, this was on my comp for a long while, and I just re-vamped it before shipping it out. It's short but it will get me started and has refreshed my memory on what I wanted to do before.


	5. Aval

_**+-RT-+**_

_Well that was a quick response! I'll try to be faster on my feet with the updates. Now that I know that the alerts are no longer paging me when I get reviews, I'll just have to come into the site proper every few days. As for the offer of Beta-reading Eric G, I'll think about it, mainly at the moment I'm running back here after a long hiatus, as the dates on my other stories show, so I'm a bit out of sorts. I've always been self-sufficient, but I'll look back and see, though if I do see I need a bit of help now, I won't hesitate to ask. _

_But, I have to re-play the game again for some reference. Oh Joy._

_Stratch above Look below._

_This update was delayed! Why? Hurricane Sandy. = / Lost power and lost a lot else. Only have just gotten myself back up, that also means that I had to scrap re-playing the game and just work off memory. Oh well…who needs play by play game script anyway? FanFICTION this is._

_((Each story of mine has a code it follows, usually depicted by those little symbols "+-XX-+". There are two of them for each story. It shows how long it has been that I forgot for about half a minute what RT stood for.))- Finalage._

_**+-LSRA-+**_

**Chapter Four: Aval**

"_Still with me? No, don't touch that, it used to be one half of a Holy Sword, one of the noblest weapons in existence. Hmm? How does something so "noble" get melted in half? I'm getting to that. Yes, that plays a part in my story. No, I cannot skip to the good part for you; you get what you pay for! You paid me nothing, so you get nothing in the way of control. Don't give me that pout; I can do much better than you can in that area. Ahh! You're weak against puppy eyes! Hee hee...you remind me of Louie…poor Louie. Ehh? What happened to him? Why don't you just sit down and listen to the rest of my story and find out?"_

"A-Arma!"

The chamber was dull, that much was certain. A no-nonsense square of corroding concrete slab rock walls and an equally corroded floor of the same material; it was all awash in the color of wet slate, and just about as slippery as it to boot. Louie kept his footing only by splaying himself in a kind of fencer's stance. Opposite him, a dull flicker of recognition crossed through Arma's eyes, but it was quickly squashed by and overriding force. She was compromised…almost to the core.

"Recette…"

+-1-+

Aval watched from his vantage point, a giant screen upon which all that the mech saw was his to divine upon. He spoke with the golem's voice, saw with its eyes…he WAS this magnificent specimen that held sway in the dungeons. Besides him, slumped in his chair, the man who had done this for him looked on with rage in his eyes.

Just looked on, ineffectually, for his neck had been laid open at the back, paralyzing him chest down. If looks could kill…it was as if he could read his mind, for Aval spared him a glance and laughed.

"Ahh but looks can't kill my friend. You just stay there and rest. Your breath won't come to you anymore, it will all be over soon, just stay and rest…I have business to attend to. This girl…is becoming a thorn in my side, if only with her nagging. However, she has been quite useful, and continues to be so. She is trying so hard…and bringing me exactly what I want all the while…"

With a secret smile, he turned back to the screen in front of him, and picked up the controls. It had been years since he had ever picked up a doll. Well, let's see how well he could play with them…

+-2-+

"Everything in this world has a balance. Tweak the price of something here, and the price of something over there crashes, twist the flow just like that…and an item will cost three times as much as it once did. I'm fairly certain that you know this; I've seen you do it. Perhaps your friend does not realize you do so, but many of those "careless mistakes" you still make that you are called upon…the result is not luck, is it?"

Attacked from a friendly face, a face that always came in to buy maiden's bracelets…and with such a commanding voice…it did not take a genius to figure out where this was going, and lucky for Recette, she wasn't one.

"You're…not Arma."

The figure opposite Loiue shifted about, as if trying to get a clean shot at Recette, but Louie planted himself firmly in the way. Useless. They were behind a barrier, as soon as the fight started, they would disappear. Still, it was fun to goad the gullible, and the adventurer in front of him was the definition of gullible.

"Why, how very astute of you. Since you are so sharp, you might care to tell me who I am then?"

Silence followed that. Behind the girl, the fairy could almost be visibly seen struggling internally with herself. She knew. Or she guessed and it was driving her mad. The doubt, the suspicion, the conflict of loyalty…no matter, her usefulness as anything but a body had run out anyway.

"Hm. Arma suffered a bit of a, ahh, _malfunction_ shall we say. I am in charge of her at the moment. However, she seems to have shut herself off from the main core. Thus until I fix the connection I cannot control the dungeons to the extent I would like…but don't worry, she will recover her full abilities. I do have a job for her after all. However, I must thank you, Recette."

"Hewah?"

The golem smiled a curious smile. The kind that sent shivers, not of pleasure or happiness, but of cold dread; racing down her spine.

"It was you who first proved my hypothesis of how the market works correct, and showed me on a small scale how a push here can affect the world at large. Tell me, how IS the swords market now a day?"

Recette clamped her mouth shut. So that was it…treacherously, Louie's brand new, borrowed Holy Sword sparkled in the dim light.

"Ahh, so you DID do it out of design, and not out of ignorance! Delightful! You PURPOSELY crashed the market by buying most of the metal stock when it was low priced and then pooling it with your own stocks, resupplied it all at prices designed to make the supply so much greater than the demand…"

Delighted, he watched as the clamped mouth drew into a tighter line.

"You successfully crashed the swords market and then used the advantage and your available income to clean out the materials needed to craft…ahh, that specimen in front of me that the boy is holding. You also did it at a time when metal was low priced anyway, so in effect, your hit hurt nobody, and so there was no undue fuss. The heist went off beautifully…

"No one noticed the titanic shift of the market from the tiny push you performed; you were the perfect item, invisible and devastatingly effective. The result was that you acquired several antique and powerful relics in metal, which you hid away to be sold later…while you seemed to fail at keeping your stocks and losing heaps of money, you actually had a relatively small dent placed in your business, received sympathy business AND managed to store away pricy relics to be sold later at tens of times the price you got them for."

Recette suddenly had a horrible image of a pair of incredibly rare, sparkling claws standing up and making a shadow puppet of a laughing jester on the walls. They were mocking her. Her mouth thinned further. So? She's learned the trade tear taught her. Maybe she had tried something to see if it would work so she could save her house…she tried to make sure she wouldn't hurt anybody…she tried to ignore the gape Tear's mouth was making. It was a tiny o, but for a fairy it was large, and fair sized enough for a bee to get in there…and it looked like a bee would be too big for her to swallow.

"Hmm, but if you really want to save this golem, you'll have to find me. But first…let's have some fun, hm? Are you worthy enough to save someone? To protect a person…you must have strength. Let's see yours."

Aval, as Arma, wasted no more words. The golem launched itself at Louie, shoving a drill arm forwards. Louie barely had time to shove up his shield. Sparks danced off it harmlessly, but impressively.

Taking a step back, "Arma" began a series of covering fire shots, forcing Louie to get out of her range. Arma had a surprise for him however, for the multiple bullets were a ploy to hide the firing of a missile, which exploded very near to Louie, knocking him sideways and into a wall. Instantly the golem was on him, peppering his downed form with bullets, Louie had to roll and dodge behind her to get away.

He was loath to harming her but he pivoted on the spot and slammed his blade home into her back, pitching her on her face. He followed up with a full circle swing and was about to bring the blade down on her head when she rolled away and tossed a reciprocating saw at his face, forcing him to skive off and dodge it, twice; for it came back after bouncing on a wall.

Bouncing saw boomerangs. Not fun. Definitely going on his list of least favorite things; pronto. Louie beat a retreat while firing off his traveling slashes, and he met little resistance until Arma stayed in one place, seeming to take a few of them in the face before he saw that she was…glowing. His eyes widened as he saw a huge scope lower down and train on him.

"Holy Walnut Bread!"

Ducking to the side, he beat a hasty crab like run and still only barely managed to get out of range as a piercing laser blasted into the wall where his body was moments before. Lasers. He thought he had seen the last of them after Griff dang it! That was another thing that was ALREADY on his list! Catching a loaf of Walnut Bread in his hands, he juggled it as he grimaced at the disappearing face of Tear.

"I DIDN'T MEAN THAT LITTERALLY!"

Her only answer came in the empty air, making him wince.

"Still, that will be 50 pix Louie, and you know Recettear accepts no tabs."

She was CHARGING him for it?! That heartless dragonfly! He threw a nasty look where he hoped Tear was and stuffed the bread in his mouth as he swept up a shield to receive another drill aimed to make him into Swiss cheese. Arma was still in this. She followed up her drill with another unit attached to her arm, lightning like in changing them. Louie's shield was still there to receive the blow from a punch unit, but the sheer force of it blasted him back.

This was going nowhere, and fast. Arma was way stronger than her size made him first believe. He had to think. His mind was changed though, when a stream of fire came his way, making him duck and roll. No. He didn't have TIME to think. He had to react.

Barely dodging a well-aimed missile, Louie slashed low, forcing Arma to jump. His slash continued however as he twisted his sword and forced his arm upwards, aiming to cut Arma in half from bottom to top. Quick thinking was the only thing that saved her as she forced her punch unit downwards. She was sent reeling backwards from the blow, but not in two pieces. Her punch unit however, was not so lucky. It was sheared nearly in half, and the automaton shook off the sparking mess in disgust.

One weapon down, who knew how many others to go. Louie rushed at Arma, stopping a step short from colliding with her with his body twisted and his sword already halfway to her head. At such close distance, the unit Arma had on now, her flamethrower; could not be used so effectively, she had to improvise it as a shield. Louie let the sparks fly, but he didn't commit to the contest of strength. Instead his sword was already whistling through the air for Arma's side. His opponent thwarted this by stepping back and letting her arm drop to her side, blocking the slash…but Louie had not come so far by being so easily thwarted. It was a feint, and his blade twisted mid slash to turn into a stab, catching Arma in the chest and knocking her down.

This was fine for her though, as the distance was good enough for her to swing her weapon to bear right at Louie's unprotected face. Exit Louie…

…or it would have been, but something stopped her. Confused she rolled away from Louie instead, and stood at odds with him. Half of her wanted to fake a saw throw and then pepper him with bullets before using a missile and then flame him. At this distance that attack would be unavoidable for Louie's documented speed. The other half wanted to close the distance and fake a flame thrower before shooting off a missile. This attack was illogical, it left you open and the missile would obviously be dodged. This conflict of commands gave her a few seconds pause, which was all Louie needed to close in and slash her before following up with a roundhouse slash, taking advantage of her staggering to blast her with a traveling wave slash. Downed on the ground, she shot a double saw unit at Louie, which caught him unawares as he had rushed in on her. Shooting him with a volley of bullets to keep him busy, again she shot a missile and swung to flame him to death. This time, she carried through however…but something else outside her stopped the attack.

A sailing, shining band of golden green; a maiden's bracelet was flying right into the middle of the attack. Split second decision protocols kicked in, split command chains were forgotten. Arma jumped into the space between Louie and herself, knocking Louie away and grabbing the bracelet in some crazy error of logic. She tossed it out of the zone of fire just before the missile hit where Louie was…

…and where she was now.

Her own missile exploded on contact with her as her own rebounding saws flew and met their master in a place they were not supposed to meet, in their flight path. Having braved her own fire for the bracelet, this assault was too much. Her own systems shut down to prevent critical damage, leaving but a sliver of awareness to be grabbed and taken hold by the second train of command.

"Hmph. It seems my control of this marionette is not as final as I would like. Well, have your fun, you're almost there. We'll finish this later."

+-2-+

"_Hmm? Why did I stop?" Can't you see I'm getting a drink? You try talking for hours on end, see where it gets you. My throat is dry…"_

_The young woman was indeed, rifling through a cabinet with a glass on a table in front of her. Her audience decided to take a full look at her once over, since they had not taken the time to do so before. If there had once been any of the "cutesy" aura that was advertised before, it was gone now. The impression she gave off was one she advertising being exuded by Tear. A quiet beauty; but one that had a deep fire somewhere hidden. Recette did not give off a "bookish" feel at all, but more that of a semi-tempered fighter. Passion barely bottled, energy quiet but rushing, experienced, maybe "street smart" but not to the core. _

_She wore her chocolate colored hair in a long, unbraided pony tail, tied to the left side of her head with two red bubbles so that it fell straight down past her shoulder to stop at her waist. It was kept in a rapier thin, straight line, and shone slightly to show it was well cared for. Her eyes were large and a warm brown, but they had a hard line in them, not exactly sad; but prepared. She wore a cream blouse that extended out by the waist with some grass toned cloth into a frilled dress. That same cloth was also used on her apron along the shoulders and the borders. She used a leather strap about chest to keep the chest covered; all in all it was a house-wife like look. _

_However, the skirt of her dress did not go much further than her knees, and beyond that point, her calf boots took over, light brown leather giving way to thick soles and hardy looking construction that was overlaid with bronze plating. If she kicked you with those shoes, you'd better believe it would hurt. Her apron and blouse were tied about the waist with a thin belt of plaited leather and an undecorated buckle of no-nonsense iron. Rivets were used along its length to thread in bags for money and whatever else she carrier about, but most prominent of all these assortments was a thin sheath, which the leather handgrip of a weapon protruded slightly from. Next to this, two other, shorter sheaths were arranged, but they seemed to be empty._

_It wasn't uncommon for a person who claimed to frequent dungeons, merchant or not, to go about armed. It was the way that she carried the weapon that would make you pause. She carried it as if it were not there, her hand familiarly brushing by it as she arranged her belt about her waist for more comfort. That comfort with a weapon didn't come from some paranoid merchant who carried about a weapon in fear of self-protection._

_That kind of familiarity meant she had actually USED that thing before._

_She turned about with the usual flourish a merchant learns, and set down two glasses and two plates. One plate was empty and the other had a slice of walnut bread on it. She pointed to the empty plate and the glass of unidentifiable red liquid._

"_You can put what you're eating in there if you please."_

_With that said; she jumped upon one of the counters, as the only seat was occupied by her audience, plate in hand and glass held firm. One couldn't help but notice HER glass was filled with water._

"_Hmm? What's that in your glass? Worried I'll poison you? It's a blend of melon, apples, oranges and grapes. I suppose you could call it a fruit drink. I'm not drinking it because it's sweet and sticky, and I'm telling a story. I need a clear mouth for that, don't I? You don't like interruptions after all."_

_+-E-+_

_I apologize that this took so long, but I had no choice. Hurricanes are not under my power. I tried to see if I could improve on any "grammatical" mistakes I made here, tell me if I did well or not. ~Finalage_


	6. Crisis

_**+-RT-+**_

_I saw your review too late to add it to my notes last chapter Ragnarok, so I'll add it this time. I may be what you call a "historically" dark writer. Much of my "career" has been on that. But I am trying to keep away from making it too dark. I do promise to put some light moments into this. It's just at this part of the story, with Aval stomping closer to his dreams and Recette rushing to save Arma, I can't help but tint it darkly. I'm sorry about that….and while Recettear is a mostly light hearted game; there are just so many dark hints everywhere that it's hard for a career "addict" of the dark story to resist the pull._

_The only other Recettear one is a vore? I'm glad I never saw it then…_

_Last chapter was cut short purposely. I felt that I had written myself into a corner, and so I cut in with Recette. Forgive me for being jarring. I am still quite out of practice after all, not to mention this chapter felt like pulling teeth. Throughout most of this chapter I wanted to just "Roar" in frustration and pick up the story and toss it against the wall before making this a time travel chapter where you see the confrontation with Avall…NOW. _

_**+-LSRA-+**_

_**Chapter Five: Crisis.**_

Louie stared at the spot that Arma had been a few seconds before. Disappearing into thin air. Now that was a trick he wanted to learn. He turned to smile at Recette and Tear as the portal came up for the next floor, a kind of victory pose in the making, but he only met a somber look on a normally happy face and a confused one on the fairy with all the answers. It didn't bode well for him, but then Recette brightened up with a smile.

"You did it Louie! I'm pretty sure we don't have far to go now! Do you want to rest before we go on? Are you okay? Hungry?"

There she was. Things were back to normal. Forget about the confused know-it-all ball of greed. He smiled.

"Hungry?! After I had that walnut bread smack me in the face?! I've never been more fired up! I can't sleep now! Maiden in distress saving, now! I'm almost there, I can feel it! There is no way I can take a rest no-"

Louie hit the floor before he finished his sentence, and before Recette could even react with a squeak, he was snoring. Her face morphed into something halfway between embarrassment and laughter.

"Err, right, rest time then!"

Without further comment, she struggled to drag the warrior backwards into the barrier by his feet. Oh well.

+~1~+

The fire was bright in the darkness. It tossed odd shadows along the walls of the chamber, it's light seemed to lick the glowing teleportation circle on the floor as its symbols spun around. Next to the fire, three figures were hunched, well, one figure really. The other two were not hunching per se.

"Recette."

"Hmm?"

Recette spared the fairy a single glance before going back to poking the fire with her char stick, even though the fire needed no urging to continue to burn, and she knew it. Tear wanted to talk about what "Arma" had said…and that was something that the merchant wanted to avoid at all costs…So she stared at the fire, and Tear continued to watch her, bobbing up and down in the air. Louie continued to snore on, oblivious. He rolled a bit in his sleep, his scarf coming dangerously close to the fire. Recette brushed it away absent-mindedly.

The silence stretched, the wood spit and crackled. Tear hovered around to stare at Recette from the front. There was something new in those big, brown eyes of hers. They had always seemed to carry a warm cherry kind of glow on them, and never failed to be fixed in the mind as innocent…yet…

Perhaps it was just the fire dancing, reflected in her eyes, or a trick of the unstable light, but her eyes seemed harder edged now, as if there was a wall of steel behind that innocence…steel that kept back secrets. Tear tried again to rouse the human to speech.

"Recette…"

"…Tear…"

This time she responded with language instead of sound, but she still refused to meet her eyes.

"Who gave you that name, Tear?"

The question caught her off balance; literally, she dropped a few inches before she managed to regain control of her flight. Who…gave her that name? Where did that question come from? Recette was the one who needed to answer things, not her!

"M-Merde…Where does this question come from all of a sudden? Recette, how exactly did you obtain that swor-"

"I saw a slime wearing a shirt today."

Again, Tear felt herself somersault in air as she lost her sense of direction for a few. The equivalent might have been a "face-fault" moment for a human. Was Recette going to gloss over everything that she said?! Not only that but with pure nonsense? A slime wearing a shirt? What kind of…

"RE-CET-TE. I asked you a question!"

"No you didn't. You didn't finish your sentence. You didn't answer my question too, and I asked it first…and I'm serious. I saw a slime wearing a shirt today…It looked a lot like one my papa used to wear…"

"…"

What was she supposed to say to that? Recette had both made a point and then brought up a topic that usually shut them both up, her father…

"Recette…"

"I crafted it Tear. The sword. The materials I bought or crafted. You know that. What difference does it make…when they were bought?"

Tear kept silent. Recette waved a hand at Louie's prone, sleeping form.

"Papa was like that. He would go out and come back, days later and sleep. When he woke up, he would eat and tell me stories, then he would go again. He had done it ever since Mama vanished. First he would tell me he was looking for her, but one day he came back and started talking about adventure…monsters and dungeons and walnut bread fishermen…I remember one day he came home with a mountain of walnut bread…"

"…"

"Mama was like…Charme. Only one day she just didn't come home from the bar…she didn't come home…When I asked you, that day…if Alcohol was yummy…I was really hoping the answer from you would be yes…or maybe I was hoping for no. I think I wanted Yes because if would have made sense then, why people drink it until they forget where home is…Maybe I wanted no because then I would know you would never do that to me."

"…Recette…"

Looking up from the fire at last, she fixed Tear with a look the fairy had never seen before on her face. It wasn't the determination she'd seen the last day she paid off her debt, and it wasn't the anger she's seen her use against Griff…It was a kind of desperate, happy-scared.

"No matter what. We end this tomorrow."

That was the last thing Recette said for the night.

+~2~+

"Err…is this floor empty of a boss?"

By Tears rough estimate, this was the eightieth floor, yet she became less and less sure the further down they went. This one was situated on one enormous stump, one large enough to fit Recette's store comfortably on top. Bright sunlight shone down upon the trio, and a slight wind carrying a mulch-like scent blew in their faces. Louie had his feet splayed in his classic stance; seeking out the occupant he knew HAD to be on this floor. It was no doubt it was a boss floor; it was only one big room.

A noise up ahead caught his attention and he ran forwards to meet…a tentacle monster. It was one of those purple lightning ones. Annoying buggers. But there was somebody already fighting it…and yelling at the top of his lungs too.

"Argh! DIE you foul beast! Yells our hero as he swings at his foe!"

Was he…doing his own dialogue for a story? Err…Louie had to admit he had done that too…but when he was little, not like this guy who was obviously a full grown man with…IS THAT A PAIR OF PANTS ON HIS HEAD?!

A hesitant little cough interrupted his thoughts, and he turned to see Recette and Tear approaching, Recette pointing to a portal that had just opened up.

"H-Hey don't you think we should move on?"

Louie looked back at the dude with the pants over his head. Sure he was muscular and all, but…despite being all powerful looking he…kinda…didn't know how to swing that axe of his. He was fighting hard, but…well frankly…

He sucked.

"Shouldn't we help him?"

"I would have to agree Recette, he is fighting hard but…he's terrible at this. We should assist."

"N-No, I don't think so; we should hurry and save Arma!"

Over Louie's back, the man began yelling again.

"Agh! Our hero…is in a pickle! With the fire…and the claws…and the…lack of healing items, that's no good!"

Louie just blinked and turned his head half around at the guy. Yeeeeah…he was doing his own dialogue…and honestly, could he see out of those holes he cut into the seat of his pants? There was no fire and that thing had no claws…it was a tentacle monster for Pete's sake…Once more the guy's voice floated down to Louie.

"Oh my dear sweet daughter! I will defeat this fiend and bring back his treasure for you! Dear Rece-"

The rest of what he was said was drowned out by Recette practically screaming in his ears.

"PLEASECANWEJUSTGOISEENOREASO NTOSTAYHERE!"

Wincing, Louie pointed at the guy, who had just fallen down and was moaning in agony.

"Arrrrgh! If….there is….anyone out there….please…tell my daughter…that her father…died…a hero…"

With that he fell silent and Louie walked up to the tentacle monster and slashed it once, cleaving it in two neatly. He looked down at the guy and discovered that he was not dead at all…in fact…

"ZzzzZzzzZzzz"

"He's….asleep."

"Ohgoodsohesfineletsmoveonnow ."

"Recette you sure you don't want to help this guy? I have no idea how he got down all the way here fighting like that…and why are you talking like that anyway?"

"Noreasononlyweneedtohurryupl etsgoLouie!"

Shaking his head at the jumping eager girl standing in the portal, he took one last look at the pantless muscle dude. Must be his bod, he's heard girls go nuts for that kind of thing. Still, he was a bit old for Recette, wasn't he? Didn't he say something about a daughter? …Ahh whatever. Louie took out one of his limited Melons and placed it on the guy's torso. He'd need it more than Louie if that was the way he fought…"

+~3~+

"_Hmm? Oh, sharp aren't you? Yes. That…pants-less individual was my missing father. This is why I was eager to leave. As you might imagine I could not have been more embarrassed if he were dressed up like a fish and singing the Tiger Deals Theme while dancing polka. What? Where did I get that analogy from? Where did you get such a big word from? I got that "analogy" because he did actually do that once…yes, he did…I'm sorry for the image it gave you. Do you need more food? Did I see my father again? He he…you'll have to wait for the answer to that….and what do you mean, where am I going? I've been talking for a long time…I need to pee. Don't make that face, you asked, so I told you! I didn't want to tell you like that but…well, you asked! I'll be right back, stay there will you?"_

_Recette left the room, which, to my surprise, was much darker than it was when I first walked in. Had the telling of the story been that long already? Getting up, I walked to the walls and felt them. They really did look like ruins, but they had a faint, magical glow to them. The walls had been like this for a long while…in some places, the masonry was cracked, giving the fake look of ruins more realistic fuel. Dust lined the shelves, but some tables still held merchandise, and although it too, was layered with dust, the gleam they gave off betrayed their value. _

_The entire place gave off an air of neglect and lost grandeur, the same as its proposed owner. A tinkle made me turn around though. The door…it was being held open by a young man in robes. His eyes roved the dusty shelves before locking unto me. His face set and he let the door close behind him. Behind me, I could hear a sigh somewhere in the back, and a mutter I barely caught as "Figures they would leave."_

_She thought I had left! She obviously was not expecting there to be more company when she came out…_

_The young man walked right by me, paying me no mind but still keeping his eyes locked on mine. He deliberately reached out his hand and rung a bell I had barely noticed on the counter, dusty and discolored as it was. He had to tap it three times before it let out a satisfactory sound._

"_Now didn't I tell you I was in the bathroom? Why would you ring that bell? To satisfy some curiosity…Calliou. How nice to see you."_

_The young man rose an eyebrow at her._

"_Oh, do I know you? I'm looking for the owner of Recettear, but all I see is some counter jockey…"_

_Narrowing her eyes, the other folded her arms in front of her and stood that way, her index beating out a rhythm on her arm. _

"_I think you know as well as I that Recettear is closed at the moment."_

"_You've been closed for the past few months, as far as I've been told."_

"_So it should not surprise you to hear what I just said."_

_The other lounged on the counter, stretching himself out languidly and looking at the girl, side-along; a smirk growing on his lips._

"_Who said I was surprised?"_

"_Your face did."_

_The young man turned to look at her full on, standing up straight as he did so. He lost his smirk in a hurry._

"_Now come on now. All I did was track you down to say sorry."_

_Recette raised an eyebrow on that._

"_Sorry? For what? Your behavior now? Or years before? You didn't need to track me down when it was polite to apologize."_

"…"

_Recette fixed a look at me. Me of all people. As if I had the answer to this situation I had no idea about. All I could tell was this was probably the "Calliou" that she had mentioned earlier in her story. She seemed to find what she was looking for in my face though._

"_Hmm, how close is the race in the council for Arch-mage I wonder?"_

_The other's face showed surprise, and then his eyes narrowed. For just a second, one single second, that surprise made him seem…innocent. As if a child was peeking from behind a mask of a cocky man. _

"_Hmph. What does the council selection for Arch-mage have to do with you?"_

"_I'm a merchant."_

"_I see no connection."_

"_To be an effective merchant I must take news from everywhere and analyze how they will affect the market. YOU taught me that, in case you don't remember."_

"…"

"_So Calliou you didn't answer me."_

"_I don't recall you asking a question I did not answer."_

"_I didn't ask it. MY face did. Just as yours showed surprise."_

"…_You're a lot smarter than I remember."_

"_Spending years fighting Terme Finance will do that to you. So Calliou, should I stamp your card?"_

"…_What?"_

"_You're here for the candy right?"_

_Calliou looked at her as if she had suddenly sprouted horns. Candy? What candy? What was this…_

"_Every Sunday, when I was little, I would go to church. I wanted a stamp on my card. I wanted that candy. Where is your card Calliou? You came for the candy after all."_

"…_I have no idea what you're talking about…I've-"_

"_Out grown such things? Why yes. You told me that years ago. I saw you in a church and we had this conversation…but it seems that for all the time that has passed, you've grown backwards. Should I get you a new stamp card?"_

_Again someone was looking at me, this time the mage. He was practically imploring me to help, but I obviously had NO CLUE what the heck was going on. I just looked at Recette, so he did too. His face spit again into a grin._

"_You've obviously spent too much time cooped up in a closed store. You've gone a bit off hinge. Maybe some support from the council-"_

"_Hmm. Support from a council that you were planning on offering anyway to show "Good Faith" and all such. All the while you shove a potentially dangerous piece of your history under the carpet. You'd look like a savior while keeping your opponent from uncovering your past. Master strike in politics. That's a stamp for you!"_

"…_I see."_

"_Of course you do. Genius like you. Your stamps are all lined up. You just need one more and you'll get that candy. I'm sure being Arch-mage will be a VERY sweet taste in your mouth."_

"…_So he got you already."_

"_Of course, you opponent waltzed in here about a week ago. I naturally-"_

"_Told him everything."_

"_Told him NOTHING."_

"…_What…?"_

_Recette stood a little straighter. He hand automatically rubbed the counter in front of her. Unconscious action; habitual and comforting. It was the only indication that Recette was not as composed as she would like to seem._

"_I'm not you Calliou. I know where my loyalties lie. You're…no….Calliou is my friend. He died years ago, but I would not betray him like that."_

_I could tell that last line stung. He almost literally jerked away; it ended up being more of a flinch. She had basically just insulted his honor, his integrity AND said he was dead to her in a neat little package. To his credit, he composed himself quickly._

"_So I came for nothing."_

_Recette gave him a sad little smile._

"_If you think that, then Calliou really is dead. I'd ask you to remove yourself from my premises sir. I may not be the owner of them for very long, but at the moment this is STILL my house. Recettear is closed."_

_With a little smile of victory, the man removed himself from her counter. He gave her a once over before turning around. He looked like he was going to say one last thing, but seemed to think better of it. The bell on the door rang out his departure loud and clear in the empty store, reverberating off the walls, or at least, it seemed that way._

_With a sigh, Recette sunk heavily unto a counter. Her head hit the wall with considerable force but she didn't flinch. She still had that small smile on her face. She swallowed before speaking._

"_It's…getting a little late. Just as well. I guess I have more to tell you if you want to hear it."_

_She gestured at the seat behind the counter, which I had left not much earlier, before the confrontation. I sunk into it a little hesitantly._

_Not that I didn't want to hear more, but more like I could already tell this epic was not going to have a fairy tale ending. Still, dungeons, monsters, warriors, friends…and an item shop. Who would have thought an ITEM SHOP would have such a story to tell? Usually you just walk into it to buy stuff…the adventurers are the ones having the adventure after all…but I guess it's true…there are two sides to every story…and this side was just as novel as any other…_

_+-4-+_

_The darkness closed in around them all as their surrounding gradually became visible. Louie looked up at the ceiling, instantly regretting it as he got an eye full of slime. Sheesh this stuff BURNED. He was certain there was some kind of acid in them…he tried not to think about it too much as he pawed at his eye with his free hand, trying to rid the ooze form his vision. It was dim here. Not dark, but eerily dim. The walls seemed to echo as he took careful steps forward. This light was worse than pitch black. It was the kind of misty dim that made it hurt to look at, but seemed to bounce off the walls so if you were not careful, it would stab you with reflected brightness. As he went further, he noticed that the monsters he ran into were not exotic, as they had become in earlier levels with knights and pumpkins shooting lasers. They were…normal. Slimes, kobolds, bees…but they were all greyish, as if they were leeched of life, vibrancy. The slimes blended in the background, making them worse than tuna in a chicken sandwich to fight._

…_What? He hated tuna.*_

_He was distracted by a ticking noise, one that got louder the further south he went. Without any other guide, he followed the sound, soon pinning it down to more of a booming…of drums. He could hear symbols clashing too, and then a horn joined in. He wondered if he was going mad…_

_Whatever it was, the song it was playing sounded extremely familiar…and alien all at once. There was no doubting its meaning though. Almost as if someone were screaming at him as he stepped by damp slime covered walls and tried to ignore the squishing of his boots, the music spoke to him of the end. This was the end buddy. The home stretch. The final run. The dragon is waiting man. The princess is right there…you gonna slay that thing…or be its lunch?_

_Unwillingly, he swallowed. His sword automatically flashed out and sliced a slime in two, a rock bounced of his shield. He moved automatically, his entire mind bent on the music…and then, quite suddenly, he felt something grab his foot._

_He tried to turn, his eyes wide, his blade slicing thin air, but he was in the grip of the portal. He had stepped into it unawares…and this one was STRONG. It more SUCKED him up than transported him. The next thing he knew, all was black…_

"Ugh…now what…"

Coming to his senses slowly, Louie realized he was still standing. That was a trick and a half. Next to him, Tear hovered on by his shoulder. Recette was on his other side, a bit back from him. He focused forwards. There…was Arma…and the biggest energy crystal he had ever seen in his life…in fact…

The whole place was FULL of them. The music he had identified before was now all around him. Ominous; but unidentifiable in source.

"Give me back Prime!"

Alerted to the noise, Louie jerked his vision to the left, almost getting one or Tear's wings in his eyes.

EVERYTHING WAS AFTER HIS EYES TODAY!

It was…err…a girl. He didn't think he's ever seen her before, but she was yelling her head off at Arma, pretty ineffectually too, since she was about 4 meters form her and not even trying to take a step forward…

Louie had more important thing to worry about, like Arma. There was some talking going on, but he wasn't paying attention to it. He had only one goal after all. He took a step towards Arma, but at that time, Tear went flying ahead of him, making a beeline for the crystal in front of her. The biggest one. It…swallowed her.

"TEAR!" "W-What has you done to her?! Give her back!"

Arma just laughed, and when she spoke, it wasn't as if someone was using her as a puppet anymore.

It was just that she was someone else now. Completely, totally. The voice was cold and deep. It was disturbing to hear it come from the mecha's lips…unbidden, Goosebumps rose on Louie's arms.

"You really are ignorant of the ways this world works aren't you, Recette? Once upon a time, Fairies were a bane to mankind. They did everything in their power to hinder us; until the hate between us was so great it started a war. A war which the fairies completely, disastrously lost…

"At the brink of extinction, they called a truce and disappeared, turning into themselves to try and train their young to become…acceptable to human kind. Bowing to the superior figures in the world, they would not let any one of their number beyond their walls unless they were "safe"…yet all the while, during that war, they failed to realized Humans had discovered their true purpose in the world. The war did not end in truce Recette…it ended because the humans decided to let the fairies live. They had…other purposes in our plans."

Recette seemed only to be half paying attention to this lecture; she was too busy trying to get past Louie to Arma and Tear. Louie knew it was HIS job to beat the monster not Recette's she'd be fresh meat no time flat. Knocking her back, Louie faced Arma and decided to shift the attention.

"What kind of purpose?"

Luckily, Recette had enough sense to understand not to interfere now. She soberly sat where she had landed; giving the worst set of sad puppy eyes he had ever seen. He focused on Arma. No time to get distracted. Arma turned to him.

"You don't see? What happens when you defeat monsters?

"Err…crystals come out."

"Correct, good boy. What are crystals?"

"Uhh…they uhh…make you stronger?"

Smirking, Arma let the huge crystal in her hands float to hang chest level.

"Indirectly yes. Crystals are life force boy. When you destroy a monster, it's life force energy crystalizes and is drawn to the most powerful source of life near. Since merchants are usually weak and behind a force field nothing can enter besides, it usually flies at the adventurer. After all, no dungeon has monsters that have more power in life than the adventurer themselves, if they did, the adventurer would not survive…As an adventurer collects more and more life energy, they gain power yes. Now…what is fairy dust?"

"Uhh…"

"Fairy dust is the same thing, only it's let out naturally by the fairy in question. Fairies are very close to nature, not just nature but the forces of life itself. It's known that they can directly influence the livelihood of a forest they inhabit. Why this is possible is because they, unlike most living animals, help PRODUCE this remarkable energy. Now, if you were to take an ordinary crystal and infuse it with a fairy, it would gain more energy of course…over time it would become quite potent I imagine…but what if you could speed this process hmm?"

"…!"

"Hmm, I see you catch on. You can force the fairy to give out an increased life energy output, of course, if done too much, you outright kill them…but I have perfected the art. I only take as much as they need to be awake…but the output from them is over a hundred times what it would have been naturally! Now…you know golems control the dungeons. This takes energy. Suppose one golem could be controlled…and then hooked to this system I have developed…"

"…The golems create anything in the dungeons…and with a power source…"

Arma smiled a dead's head smile.

"Yes. The golems can create anything I desire! ANYTHING! With a source of energy that is limitless, there is no bounds to the wishes I can have fulfilled!"

By the time Louie got it, his face had fallen into something approaching anger. He wasn't sure but if this was going the way he thought it was…

"...I'm gonna guess there's a catch huh?"

This time, it was Recette who spoke.

"You destroy the life of the golem, making them your slave…and the fairies…you're going to drain Tear dry! You'll kill her!"

"Hmm. Trivial details. There are always more fairies, and golems are not supposed to be self-aware, they work as a unit to create the dungeons. Your "friend" here has a particularly delicious bug that let her feel sorry for you, and thus help you, until her collection of built up error allowed her to break from the mold and become a single unit. Again it seems I must thank you. Not only have you made this possible, but you were vital in its operation throughout the entire way!"

Recette scrambled away on her hands and knees, as if to escape the accusation, but when she turned around, her eyes were huge.

"No…I wouldn't help you take Tear!"

"Oh but you did. It was you who made her stay with you, making a shop instead of taking possession of your house. You deplorable state made her pity you. Later on your inexperience and bumbling figure allowed a certain golem to take pity on you too, and with the actions you performed, that pity turned to a love that allowed her to alter the dungeons in your favor...

"It was YOU who later on proved that with one push here, the market can fall into perfect alignment and thus allow you to turn countless profit from a small investment. It was YOU who caused the golem to malfunction and become a singular unit, you who in "the good ness of your heart" chased her through this entire dungeon, making her errors all the MORE differing from her unit. You changed her until she could do nothing but bend to my will. She loved you too much….and then what else did you do but bring me EXACTLY what I needed and handed her to me on a silver platter? My dear you have a place of honor in my heart, I assure you."

Recette's eyes became even bigger, and even more watery. Louie felt like he was going to melt if he continued to stare. He couldn't tell how this guy could harden himself to stand up to THAT…that took some kind of evil.

"Tear…"

"Hmph. However, I see you don't share my glorious visions. You were useful my dear but now I'm afraid you know far too much. I will have to do away with you, though it pains me so, you are quite like the daughter I never had."

"Heh-heh-wha?!"

The mecha looked down at the crystal in its hands, and without any visual bidding, it began to shine and spin, throwing rays everywhere. Louie threw an arm up to protect this new assault to his poor eyes. All the crystals in the surrounding area were pulled in as if by a vortex all of them collecting unto that single crystal, making it blindingly bright.

"With this power, I can have anything I wish…even this…behold!"

The light faded slowly, but the music did not. It only got louder. When Louie could finally see, he felt like closing his eyes again. He had seen this thing before…in his nightmares. He'd read about it in fairy tales, seen pictures…but here it was…real.

~Geddon Device~

It was purple. It floated off the ground, in space, it suddenly struck Louie that this place's floor wasn't really a floor…but a floating platform. And it was…a LOOOONG way down from here. The geddon device moved off the platform, it's fingers rings of purple metal and crystal, it's torso a full plate of the same metal, with the crystal spinning slowly beneath it all…it had a helmet which was twisted into a snarl, and large, crystalline horns. It was beautiful...

And at that moment one of its arms launched off, raking the area with a laser, that actually traveled up and down the field. Louie tried to avoid it… but it spiked him, and that blow HURT.

Beautiful and deadly…

+~E~+

_Hmm? Why did I stop THERE? Heh hee…ever heard of a cliff hanger? Hmm. Didn't I tell you I can do those eyes better than you? Come back tomorrow, if I'm still here, I'll tell you more. It's nice to leave your audience guessing after all…huh? It's not nice for THEM? Well then…it's nice for me. Besides I'm tired and have you looked outside?_

_I spared a glance. It was quite dark by now…and I did have an inn bill to foot. Sighing I realized I was not going to get more out of this wily store owner today. I looked about and snatched an odd looking hourglass off one of the counters. It was immeasurably dusty and I almost lost my grip on it. I placed it on the counter. Recette rose her eyebrows._

"_I'll take it."_

_She stared at me for a flat second before grinning._

"_The take it then. It's yours. You'll realize in time why I say that. "_

_What she wasn't going to sell it to me? But her dismissing gesture brooked no argument. I felt like a thief as I stole out of the store into the starry night. I thought I was going to do her a favor, instead, I walk out with a free souvenir…_

_+-E-+_

_Well this took a RATHER long time to compile. I'd blame the lack of computer access but that doesn't cover it all. I'd blame the fact that this chapter was hard to right but that's just taking an easy way out. I won't put blame on anything. It's fairly longer than most of the other's I've been putting out here; this is more of a normal length for me. Still a bit short though but…ehh. I can't write like I did in High School or College, where I had a bunch of free time._

_~Finalage._

_The music Louie was hearing? You might recognize its description. Alien like drums joined by symbols then followed by an eerie horn, for someone not in the modern world, the final boss theme in Recettear would sound VERY eerie, yet without a doubt would scream at you: "THIS IS THE END BUCKO!"_

_The game file is called "lastboss02" I call it "Geddon Device~ Released." Whichever you call it, it's there._

_*= Remember, Louie does NOT like seafood._


	7. Consequences

_**+-RT-+**_

_Well no reviews. That's okay I took a long time to bring that chapter and it basically was a travel stall. I didn't expect any._ _Can't say I didn't HOPE for some though. I used to work in a "See feedback time to work basis" unless I was caught up in the flow of the story, but I can't afford that with this. You reap what you sow. Anyway, forwards. _

_Due to lack of motivation, this chapter is long as an apology for the delay. Making it long also caused most of the delay because of said lack of motivation but meh._

_General Warning: In this chapter, the caps lock button is abused. Also, If I mutilated the rich inheritor of the Big Bash's reign's name, forgive me, I told you already I am working without the benefit of the game to help me, and half the time the internet too. (In fact, I make a point not to use the net during writing. I find myself getting work calls if I do, then I gotta use the net for THAT. Oddly, if the net if off, I get no calls off schedule. Fate maybe….?)_

_Another touch. I find I really need to work on my happy scenes. That was extremely hard for me to write and what's worse, when done, they feel flat and un-real, and mostly sketchy. I revel too much in suspense and sorrow that's hard for me to write in the light. =/._

_**+~LSRA~+**_

_**Chapter Six: Consequences. **_

_**+~LSRA~+**_

_I walked into the store. It was early, but the door was unlocked, and there she was; standing behind the counter with her hands caressing its edges. She had the same apron on, but her cream color shirt had been swapped out with a pure white one. Same rapier thin ponytail, same plaited leather belt…_

_She moved from behind the counter, and I made a mental amendment. Same belt, but now, where once there had been an empty sheath, there was now a full one, the dark leather of the handgrip reflecting sun as only polished leather can. Her face was set into a mask of calm, but the aura around her was off. I wasn't going to make any comment about it though, for her left hand was casually rested on the grip of that weapon, and it looked like it was used to being there._

"_So…you did come back. I guess that my life is now worth no more than a bard's tale."_

_Her eyes rested on mine. How old was she really? The tale she told depicted herself as an airheaded weeboo…but even though she used no huge words, it was obvious she was intelligent when her eyes rested on you like that…and there was no weeboo to be found in that reflection. How many years had it been? The question slipped before I had a chance to stop it._

_I was about to take it back too, the look that she gave me, but then those eyes lit up, and her face split into a smile, a real, unguarded smile. In there, I could see her as she was in her tales…_

"_I'm not quite as old as you might think…during the time of the story, at least where you are now, I'm about thirteen. I am eighteen now. Five years…can do a lot to you, if you let them."_

_She cocked her head to the side, almost letting it rest on her right shoulder in a half shrug. _

"_I let them."_

_She said that with a light tone, but she might as well have dumped some ice down my back. There was a lot of weight behind those three words…_

"_But enough about now…You want to know about then. That's what you came for huh?"_

_There was something about her voice. It was soft and light, but lilting, a kind of almost singing that caught you and took you to where she was, where the story was…_

_+-~1~-+_

_Laser fire, bright, searing; and bringing with it the smell of ozone and barbeque. Oh yes, barbeque. Louie was the main course, not that he was laying down to be roasted at the spit…_

Louie panted as he raced to keep pace against a line of fire that was intent on mowing him down. No way to roll under it, no way to jump over it, and unless he could sprout wings there was no way he was going to be able to dodge it from the side…then again, if he had wings, he'd probably just fly over it. Yeah. That made more sense. Fly over it and INCOMING!

Louie almost did a barrel roll to avoid an exploding missile that went off where his head had been not three seconds before. How was he supposed to get NEAR this guy to HURT him if he kept using attack to PUSH HIM AWAY? Then again, that was probably the point…

A shaking alerted Louie to jump sideways to avoid a platform that would have fallen from under him. That was another thing. Even the FLOOR was against him! He'd always had the floor to back him up, he had a very intimate relation with the ground, since it was always there to catch him when he fell, to give him additional bruises, for him to beat his fists against…but now it was falling from underneath him!

Another laser made his mind go blank; the sheer fear of it appearing so close made him freeze. It was going to hit…but instead it started to move away from him. For gods sakes the thing was _teasing_ him! Louie sent a flying slash at the thing in frustration, only to have the laser eat it. He gritted his teeth. He needed a melon…But he didn't know how he could even think about stuffing one of those down his throat when by the time he did he'd be hit by something, or choke.

Louie swerved to avoid another explosion and played leap frog with another laser before raising his blade and slicing through the thin air with venom. This time it hit the device, but for all the visual effect it did, he might as well have sneezed on it. His frustration was running high as he pounded heavily across the platforms, jumping when they began to shake underneath him.

His teeth still set in a grit, he managed to get in close in time to get in a few choice slashes before the thing backed off from the platforms and began its bombing run, but this time, Louie was tired of running from the attacks. He stood his ground as he bent and swerved like a tree in high wind, his blade flashing out shockwaves to detonate bombs early, his body playing limbo with the laser as it came, and when it passed, he jumped skywards slashing into the air viciously to send his shockwaves flying out in cross patterns. Finally this attack gave the device pause, just enough of pause for it to come down low enough for Louie to land and spin with vengeance etched in his eyes, his blade flashing red.

It did not bleed, it spilled crystals. But Louie had a grim smile. So. He could cut it.

He didn't have long to celebrate however, partly because he knew he probably would not get another chance. He kept pressing his attack on where it had opened up, hacking away until it rose and again moved out of his range, spitting out lasers from its hands to rake him. Again though, Louie stood his ground only jumping a little backwards when his panel began to shake.

_Damn. If this one falls I'll never get close enough again. _

Taking a chance, he kept hopping as it shook, and as his opponent came close again, as it began to fall, he pushed all his strength into his legs, jumping as he had never before. The feedback of energy running from his legs into his body, it was almost like a demon had seized his soul. Hand on blade, he swung his blade as he never had before, slicing the air as if to rend it, his eyes reflecting nothing but his opponent, his world had shrunk to just that. Him and the beast.

_I'm so slow…too slow! It's just sitting there as if it's holding me in the air, and all I can do is swing with arms of lead! I gotta be faster than this! IT'S JUST SITTING THERE!"_

To Recette, Louie's arms were nothing but flashes, her eyes would catch a flit of his sleeve here, and then a flash of his scarf there, but she was never fast enough to see his whole arm swing. He wasn't a blur like Griff could become in anger, but he still seemed inhuman as he rained down hell and breakfast on the Geddon Device…and ever so slowly, it would jerk back, delayed, hating movements, spurting crystals, flying sparks…

_It's over…_

Halting, grinding, spinning a broken machine that final job was to vomit up two fairies. That is what Louie wanted to see; what he deserved to see… as he felt himself fall and hit the ground. Hard. But his eyes were not so kind.

His opponent was damaged yes, but an exhausted Louie could see it was not done yet. Even as he watched the platform he stood on begun to shake. If that didn't take it down...

_I don't think I have the energy for another shockwave…I can barely lift my eyes to see…and the platforms have fallen…I'm never going to be able to close the distance again…It's over. I've…lost…_

A scream made him duck and roll, just in time to avoid being totally roasted by a laser he barely saw. He dimly registered that it had been his name, and that the screamer was Recette. He stopped rolling, but he didn't get up. He was too tired. His back was on fire with pain, and he remembered something from before…the lasers were too big to go under…he had rolled and taken the cooler parts of the beam in stride, but his clothes were toasted, and his back felt raw…he smelled burnt wool and knew his scarf was gone too.

His eyes sought Recette; the other girl seemed paralyzed, staring at his back. Recette however, was looking at him, with those big eyes, all watery, but her mouth was open. She was probably still screaming. He finally caught her attention, and her mouth clamped into a thin line.

_Sorry Recette…looks like I couldn't save the damsel this time…_

He was surprised at what she did next. Then he realized…he could see her. She was outside the barrier…she was reaching into her bag…and pulling out…was that a Tuna Shanker? How many of those had he found down here…she had three in her hands. They looked huge in them, and she was shaking like a leaf. He saw another laser coming for him. So this was it…he looked at his friend again…and saw her back in the bag, pulling out a crystal shield.

_What are you doing, Recette?_

"Hey! You big bully! Pick on someone your own size!"

She surprised him. Louie remembered the times he had fallen, and she had to drag him back to town, the first times he had been painfully reminded of it too, being dragged across the ground was not kind on the body…but later on he would feel it less. He had chalked it down to becoming tougher, but now he saw it was more than that…

In a moment, Recette had run to his side, and tossed the shield right into the beam. It shattered in a near instant…but she used that little time it held to push them both past it. Louie, unable to do anything but fly and then fall to the earth again, could only numbly watch. If that landing had not been on his back, he might had had enough feeling in him to be surprised, but at the moment, he was in too much pain to feel anything else.

He groaned, but was ignored as Recette, in front of him, hefted a Tuna Shanker and _threw_ it at the crystal in the middle of the device. It made a sound like a musical note, and maybe a small chip flew off, but nothing else was evident.

_WHAT was she DOING?_

Probably the same thing was going through the other girl's head, for at that moment she snapped out of her paralysis and began to scream at Recette. Louie couldn't understand one word she said, and if Recette understood it, she ignored it and she raised a silver bow. She didn't load any arrows though; no she loaded a _Tuna Shanker_. The hell…

Pulling back as far as she could, the girl jerked forwards and gasped as the bow string ripped from her fingers as she tried to pull it further back then she could hold it. Louie felt something wet fly unto his cheek

But his eyes were on the knife. The very _fast_ knife. It had buried itself into the crystal, and from where it struck, Louie could see light shining through. Recette pulled another Tuna Shanker and tried to load it, but yelped and dropped the bow, sucking her left hand. Giving up on that, she threw the knife right handed, succeeding in a complete miss. Gritting her teeth, she watched another laser start to charge.

Time was against her. She wasn't Louie. If that thing hit her, she'd be dust. Growling, she aimed and threw her last Shank…and hit gold. The Crystal received another chip identical to the first one, but this time, with a knife buried in it already, cracks in it widened, and the light coming from it began to flicker, shine brighter and then, to Louie's surprise, the device began to swerve.

_Oh DUH! The crystal is its freaking power source! Destroy that and it goes nuts!_

Grunting and hissing, Louie managed to roll unto his belly, getting his arms under him. More teeth gritting and hissing got his knees under him so he could sit on the balls of his feet.

"Tear! Tear! Come on Tear! Wake up! Teeear! Alouette! We have to call for them! Alouette! Help me!"

~+-1-+~

"_Hmm? I sound corny? Well…err…hey, it was the first thing that came to my mind! Wait you're __**laughing**__ now? I suppose I'm hilarious when distraught huh? Oh…you! Go ahead! Burst your gut laughing for all I care! I wanted to get Tear back! Simple and forward! She was my best friend! My big sister! ...What do you mean a fairy can't be my sister? I mean figuratively you dolt! So what if she's tiny? A fairy can still be my big sister! Hmph. You…you're lucky I've nothing else to do or I'd stop telling this story right now!_

She was so red in the face and furious I instantly tried to calm down. I mean, I was enjoying the story. What's more was that I didn't want her mad at me, that rapier handle was still within range after all. Though at the moment she didn't look too disposed to using it; it looked like she had forgotten it was even there. I pushed some hair out of my face and tried to bring my amusement to a manageable level. Still I found it hilarious for this merchant in front of me to do something so stupid as to yell at a crazy monster like it was a bed her fairy friend was sleeping in.

I implored her to continue however, and after a few minutes she seemed ready to oblige me…

~+-2-+~

_The trip upwards from there was as uneventful as a feather is light. I'm sure you're aware of what happens at the end of a dungeon, hmm? A large, inter-dimensional door appears. Ahh of course, what happened with tear and Arma, I get ahead of myself…_

Loiue struggled up to his feet as the device in front of them all tilted insanely, a drunken marionette with half its strings cutspinning about before it fell to shatter on the ground, becoming dozens of crystals. As Louie expected, they began to rush at him, but surprised him by making a detour OVER him. They instead bowled Recette over, sending her flying backwards into Alouette, bowling** her** over. Louie couldn't help the mental shout of "SCORE!"…but hell be unto him if he voiced it.

_Energy Crystals are attracted to the most powerful presence around them. That's why when an adventurer defeats a monster, it flies at them. Having been released from their vessels, the only remaining powerful vessel will of course be that adventurer…_

But wait…Recette was always behind a barrier, so it could never fly to her…until now, when she herself had stepped out to his aid…but did that mean she was somehow…stronger than him? But she had never even lifted a weapon befor- okay, rephrase that, she had lifted them, but not in her defense…as a shop-keep to sell them…

"Me-merde…."

That one word galvanized Recette into action; she untangled herself from Alouette in time for the other girl to push her bottom, hard, in an attempt to get up herself. This almost made Recette fall backwards again, but she kept her footing to take a few shaky steps forwards. She seemed dizzy. Yeah, Louie knew that feeling. You try absorbing a dozen or so crystals full of energy and flying at you at about the same speed a rock would if thrown. If it doesn't knock you silly the first time, you're made outta steel. Not to mention the giddiness afterwards made you kinda tipsy, like having one to many at the bar.

Recette definitely looked tipsy.

"Te-Tear!"

... … … … … …

"I have been disengaged from the system. As such I will lose much of my creation abilities and will no longer be a threat to the collective as a weak link. I shall disappear from their realm."

"Uhh, but wait a sec, that's kinda what I was trying to prevent…you going and dying on us, I mean, damsel in distress saving yah?"

Tear, however; smiled at Louie…and Arma seemed to gain a ghost of one too.

"Oh no, I am not disappearing from life as you know it. I am…going to become an individual. After all, I do…enjoy…shopping."

Recette smiled this time.

"I'll make sure the door is always open for you too!"

~+-3-+~

"_I suppose that I am lost now. I betrayed my employer, you obviously don't need me to run the shop, All I really ever do is fly about and offer customer service. I…have failed my mission. I have nowhere to go. No home…"_

"_Don't be silly!"_

"_Hu-huh what?"_

"_I told you already Tear! You are my family. Your home is my home, and OUR home is Recettear!"_

_I can only stare at her, open mouthed, stunned…what…after all this, after realizing what my mission was…knowing that I was there as nothing but a slave master…that I used her...she still…after all that…_

…_Recette…_

…_You are like no human I have ever met before…_

…_I suppose you are right…_

…_I do have a home…_

…_Then I promise…_

…_Like you asked…_

…_I'll never leave you alone…_

"…_Y-yes. L-lets…Let's go home!"_

…_and so my days of running an item shop…continued!_

"RE-CE-TTE, WAKE UP!"

"He wha?!"

~…~

_I watched her happy face. She was enjoying what I was telling her. _

_I could end it right here, tell her that my story was at an end, and that Recette had had a happy time forever after until I decided to close shop and sell the land._

_...I could lie, and let her leave with that smile on her face._

_A smile…people's smiles used to be so important to me._

_What is important to me now? The truth? What is right? No…I suppose what's important to me now…_

_Is seeing everything to its end._

_**~Recettear: Lemongrass Stains.**_

_Recette bustled about her shop, wiping errant fingerprints from a dusty display case with her apron almost absent mindedly ad she listened to Louie babble about a new dungeon having been discovered. In the middle of the sea of all places…on an island of crystal…a __**floating**_ _island of crystal. Recette was interested yes, but only as far as a merchant would be. _

_A merchant who was not too particularly greedy once her bills were paid. She wasn't in debt anymore after all. All profit of Recettear went to her and Tear, and for two individuals, one a fairy who liked a simple life no less;(all a bit with a few books and being able to at least see treasure and money being used, if not necessarily to her own benefit.), that was plenty of monetary__ freedom to keep them occupied. Recette for her part had decided to forgo her four bubbles in place of two on one side. She was thinking of growing a ponytail. After the shop was well cared for, she would spend a small bit of her money on herself, so that she "fit the image of her shop"; to quote Tear. It would not do for Recette to continue looking like a just-scrubbed-behind-the-ears school girl while she ran Recettear, which had become a rather fine establishment over her hectic month of installment payment._

_As such she had, at the very least, bought a new apron and some strange goop Tear called a "Hair care product, not that you need much of it, your father was good for one thing I suppose, your hair manages to be presentable with minimal effort."_

_But that was enough about her hair and her shop._

_Finishing her task, Recette put her hands in the pockets of her apron, searching for her notepad. She slipped a pencil behind her left ear as she found it along with her book, and her tongue came out to peek from the side of her mouth as she flicked past pages of writing, coming to a list of dungeons on a small, hand drawn map depicting the surrounding country around the town of Pensee. _

_Louie continued to jabber happily about the new chance for adventure, the "Crystal Nightmare" as they were calling it. Just about any rare item imaginable was said to be inside, as already adventurers who ventured in came out with incredible finds and they claimed that they had only been to the first levels. No one knew how far down it went, for any adventurer who had gone to find out had yet to return._

_Not to say they had died or anything, though it was possible, just at this point, people believed they simply just had not found the bottom yet. It had only been about a week since the last batch had marched in after all, determined not to come back until they had found the bottom…only a week._

_It had been about two months since Recette had come back from the ruins, half helping, half dragging Louie and Alouette with her, two fairies crowning her head. In that time, she had busied herself with her shop and life had become…a kind of normal. She woke up, cleaned up (both herself and her house), dressed up (again; both herself and house) and finally opened up shop. Took away old or low priced stock, replaced it with new or higher priced stock, set aside bundles with orders filled, haggled, haggled and haggled some more, with a smile on her face as she waved off satisfied customers. Occasionally coming off her stool to chase a certain pink haired individual out of her shop bodily, ridiculous merchandise and prices both unwelcome. _

_Spending her free time replenishing store stock at the market, or diving into a dungeon with her friends. Never pushing too hard for her need was no longer desperate. Laughing, playing, and watching the children not so much younger than her race around the square while she tried to avoid them with her bags. She had thought that her time of fear was over…_

_But now…this. The Crystal Nightmare. Its name laughed at her in her own "lead" from her pencil, dully shining on the notepad. The words awoke an irrational fear in her. Something told her…something told her this dungeon would start something…it would end the peace._

_But still, when Louie said that he wanted to make up a team of his own and chase into it…she smiled. _

_Smiled and shoved the irrational fear down into the pit of her stomach._

"You mean like Alouette does? She always has an army of villagers with her when she goes into a dungeon…"

"Yeah! I mean…why not? You could do it even! You're an established merchant at the guild, there are a lot of adventurers who you've never even seen before who would love to try and give you their card! …and a lot of un-carded ones too…I mean um…what ranking do you have as a merchant?"

"Huh? Wait, you know about merchant levels Loiue?"

Louie rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Err, well I don't know about them all no, but I do know they exist, and the adventurer's guild has a rule that any merchant above the rank of ten can hire a team of adventurers, of course, they would have to be able to afford all of their combined fees. I mean, ever since you paid me to go into those Ruins to rescue Arma, I've realized that Alouette isn't the only merchant that could afford that kind of trip!"

Louie continued to rub his head while Recette focused on smoothing out her apron, but his mind wasn't as at a loss for words as his mouth was. While he rubbed it, his head had the audacity to spout a comment in his mind.

"…_and I'd rather travel under Recette as a team than listen to that kid boss me around…even with her ball of greed flying around…it's better than the other ball of greed…Prime was it? Sheesh…" _

"I mean if you don't want to you don't have too, I just would really like to go, and you're the first merchant I gave my card too!"

Recette smiled at him as he continued to ramble. She was about to answer him when a woman came up to her with a request for something sweet for her daughter. Recette went to the vending machine she was using as a cooler behind her counter and asked if a candied apple would do, and closed the deal right in time for Louie's ramble to finish.

"So how about it?"

Sighing, Recette adjusted herself in her stool before answering Louie.

"I don't see why not. I've never handled a team of adventurers before though. I guess I'd handle all of your items combined? Would I just let you do your own thing and just catch what you all pick up or…"

Louie held up a gloved hand.

"When I've traveled with Alouette and her company of adventurers, she usually would have a team of five. One of them picked up the items, she err…never carried any of her own merchandise anywhere. As far as I can tell, she kinda directed each of the four to a direction, and they would take that position around her. We would walk in a group and each of the four had a corner…"

Recette's mouth twisted up at this suggestion. It seemed so…complicated. Most monsters that Recette encountered could be handled one on one by her friends, but she supposed since Alouette generally picked a mass of villagers to walk with her and not people who had to make a life out of adventuring, her strategy worked fine. Recette would come up with her own though. She was not so much a fan of following Alouette's bossy example.

_+-~4~-+_

"Ahh. Recette Lemongrass. Come to hire an adventurer have you? Maybe take a stroll into the one everyone has been talking about? The Crystal Nightmare? The Guild recommends that you hire a-"

Recette interrupted the man with a sneeze. Not that she did it on purpose, it just happened. Sniffing lightly and shaking her head to rid it of figurative cobwebs, she hefted her pack a little higher unto her shoulders and took a glance around the familiar room.

The Adventurers Guild was built very much like a train station, that is to say, lots of open meeting space before a counter of staff who could point you in one direction or another, and along the walls, hallways leading to quarters or meeting rooms, and doors leading to staircases. The whole place was made of a warm colored brick, except the floor which was largely water smoothed rock. In one corner, a kind of lounge was situated, with a roaring fireplace during the cold nights. All in all it was a very earthy feel. Recette nodded, interrupting the man yet again in his mostly-ignored speech.

"I'm doing something different today guild coordinator. I'm looking to hire a team of adventurers for a multi-day trip."

The other's face instantly arranged into a smile, and a twinkle came into his eye. Ahh, finally, she was looking to give him some good money today!

"Ahh! May I suggest looking into teams already registered and waiting? I can show you a list of very capable individuals that already have established teams, they know each other well and trust each other in battle, you can count on them to perform! For the regular finder's fee of course, I can link you with a perfect match-"

Feeling herself being increasingly rude, Recette called the man from his tirade again, smiling as best she could while refusing the offer. He instantly deflated.

"Err, no mister coordinator. I'd actually like to create my own team from individual adventurers. I'm prepared to pay their combined fees."

…_and of course in doing so she makes sure they get their own full fees, and all the guild gets is the listing fees! This merchant…always trying to cut out the establishment and giving the adventurer full share! It is US who keep them organized! If only she was more like that fine heir to the Big Bash…that girl has true vision, and an ample wallet to realize it!_

Smiling nonetheless, the coordinator led Recette to the lounge, where many an adventurer waiting for work milled about as they spent their hours hoping or busing themselves. Recette instantly recognized Louie staring off from across the table at an adventurer she didn't know, doing, of all things, arm-wrestling.

No one was winning.

Edan relaxed next to Louie, watching him struggle while on the other side, Nagi sat on the floor, examining her spear edge. A bit apart from them, Calliou sat at a table pouring over a book Recette recognized as one he had bought two days ago from her store. He was more than half way done with it…and it wasn't a short book.

While his eyes moved across the page, he muttered under his breath, as if practicing spell-work. Across from him on another chair, Chame lounged while she tossed her knife up in the air, catching it only to toss it up again. Tielle was standing in the middle of the room next to a human adventurer Recette did not know aiming with a dart at a circular board another man was holding. Her dart jerked and danced with the man's movement and she threw it, she scored a bulls-eye, even as he had tried to jump aside.

Two young men sat on the floor, bent over a map and conversing. Again, these two adventurers Recette had never seen, however, near them by the fireplace and watching its empty, dark mouth, stood Arma. She couldn't find Griff, but then again, she doubted he would be here this early in the day.

"Well Madam, take your pick, these adventurers have no allotted teams… they are the "free agents" you are looking for."

As he said this, most of the rooms' occupants turned towards his voice. They were used to doing that. He was the one who brought them prospective clients. They paid him a lodging fee and s finder's fee for that after all. Louie's face lit up once he saw who the prospective "client" was. The coordinator took control again however with a cough. Recette cast him a glance.

"A moment if you please. You have not said how many adventurers you wish to enlist for this team, for where and how long… I'd also like to know if you wish to register the team you are creating as an enlisted one or as a temporary…"

Thrown a bit for a loop, Recette stared at him for a few seconds while her mind whirred. How many, where to were easy enough questions, it was the how long and the enlisted bit that tripped her. First things first however…he eyes roved the room, found Louie, moved on, found Tielle, moved once more and found Calliou…and an idea formed into her head. She ran with it, and saw from the surprise in the coordinators face that she had chosen right.

"I'd like to make it enlisted. Private enlisted if that's possible. I'm looking to create a team of four for an unknown amount of time; probably a long time…ehh…I'm planning on taking them to "The Crystal Nightmare."

Louie looked more excited with every word, in fact, he was so pumped, he managed to slam down his opponent in a burst of energy. He hardly noticed this feat however. Edan did though, and he began laughing at the other mans shocked face. Calliou too, was paying attention, but his excitement was more masked, he still had his nose in his book, but anyone looking close would see his eyes were not on the pages. The two men previously hovering over their map had incredulous looks on their faces.

This _**girl**_ wanted to hire _how _many people? For _how long_? And to_ where_?

"Of...Of course. I suppose you mean private listing by meaning this particular combination of adventurers can only work as a team when hired by yourself? You are aware that if any three of the four you wish to do this too are hired and are not under any contract to yourself that they can accept, and thus leave you without a team if you come looking? You are also aware that if you wish to register another team and this team is available you cannot legally do so? Once you make a team private, whenever you hire a team and they are available, you MUST hire them and them alone…"

She didn't know all of that, but she shrugged it off mentally. If she ever hired another team, she couldn't imagine objecting to working with her friends again if they were willing, ready and able. She aimed a smile at him and lifted her shoulders in a shrug.

"I don't find a problem with any of that sir. I'd be glad if they were able to find work when I don't need them, and if they are all there and I hire a team again, I can't imagine objecting to hiring them if they are able and willing to work."

_So…she CAN have vision when she wants too. Huh, she's unwilling to pay an enlistment fee for a registered team, but instead is willing to pay for a __**registration fee**__ for a __**brand new **__team and a __**private **__one at that…_

"Well madam, if you just point out whom you would like we can get started..."

_+~-E-~+_

_Huh, I planned on making this longer than what it turned out to be. But after that line it just seemed like a nice place to end, and I felt unwilling to stick more into this one chapter. I don't know what it is, but much of this chapter seems sparse to me, which is funny because I just said I was unwilling to put more. _

_In a stupid mood~Finalage._


	8. Beginings

I am an author who admits that they are unstable in updates, who knows full well that they are scatter brained, low on time and even lower on luck. So why do I keep trying anyway?

I have noticed that the total of Recettear stories since I began this has expanded. When I started this, I was the first of my kind. Then I was told another had sprung up. Now I see five Recettear stories. It's nice to see, however, it is also rather saddening. Why? Because it's been almost four years since I began this. Yes, I was, and still am, extremely slow on the update when things come up. Losing my data countless times, and even losing my old machine...but like I said...why do I still try?

Because, like it or lump it, the stories still cook on the back-burners of my head's stove-top.

That, and in the way of Recettear at least, it seems that it is up to me to push this boundary and travel into the lands uncharted. Oh well~.

Lets hope I still have the gas for it.

Do I really need to say I don't own anything having to do with Recettear? I don't even own the game anymore. I used to, but then my old computer died, and I dislike playing Recettear through steam, and loath to admit I have lost all information on my previous purchase.

Well, I played it already, and it was money well worth spent while it lasted. I still have the game in my head.

That's all that matters. XD~ Finalage.

_**+RT+**_

_**Chapter Seven: **__Beginnings_

_**+LSRA+**_

As Recette filled out her papers for registration, she was suddenly struck by an inspiration that made her pause in filling out the form. At her side, the coordinator hovered a little anxiously. Her pause was cause for worry. He could never tell with this merchant. Recette had exploded unto the scene a scant few months earlier with a tiny little backwater shop out of her shabby little home.

A barely out of childhood girl with a ditsy demeanor and an infectious smile, an anxious fairy bobbing around her head. Anyone could tell the fairy was holding the reigns here. Anyone with half a brain would look to the fairy and not the poster girl...and yet. In a single month th girl had expanded her shop until it was expansive, well groomed and stocked, bursting with customers who would claim loyalty and even attempt to pull others in.

You'd think something illicit and indecent was going on, but there was nothing but the girl. A girl who, behind that counter, transformed from an air-headed frolicking buffoon into a level-headed, sure paced and fox-worthy manner. She was quick, clever and fair, but rigid. She would haggle, but she would not be fooled. She knew the value of everything she sold, and knew how to pawn it well.

Underneath the admittedly infectious smile and unassuming face lay a powerfully calculating mind. The fairy was the side show. The fairy could not control of manage the girl. She had taken the lessons from the race bred and trained to handle business and then discarded them. Built her own rules from the ashes.

"Co-ordinator."

"Yes ma'am?"

She turned to look at him with a curious look on her face. She waved the half-completed form in front of his face.

"Would I need to fill a different form out if I decided that the amount of four adventurers does not suit my taste, or is this form still valid? I see nothing that says it should not be, but I want to make sure."

He blinked.

"What number of adventurers would you rather hire, if not four?"

"Five"

He blinked at her smile, as he felt more than saw the looks of the adventurers around them in the room. The interest in them had been palpable before...but now it was butter knife to solid ice worthy. He felt his previous dislike of Recette dissolve just as much as the interest had increased.

_Oh she can INDEED have vision. I suspect a Big Bash copy off?_

"That same form will suffice. I assume you are going to use the same format Big Bash does...?"

"No."

Another blink. Of course. Vision. Recettear had always done things differently. He just never realized that this in itself was an act of visionary brilliance. Only now, as it would provide him with money, did he realize just how it was...and he had accused her of having none at all.

_I take it back. _

He gestured to the room at large, indicating her to take her pick, as she had reached the end of the form, where the signatures of the adventurer's in question were needed as well as hers. Recette's brain pulled the image in her mind.

_One Scout, no doubt who that is!_

"Charme!"

She pointed to Charme, watching the thieves face split into a grin as she tossed the knife that had stopped it's path up and down in the past few minutes. She rose to her feet and walked towards them as it landed, point down, into the table, her smile having not faded one bit.

_Two Vanguards, I don't need to keep any more suspense, if I do, Louie will explode into little Louie pieces._

"Louie and Nagi."

She pointed the two out with a smile at the look on Louie's face. Once his name was called, he could not resist exploding from his seat with a resounding "YESSS!" and a pump of the air before grabbing his belongings and extricating himself from the table he was situated at, leaving his arm-wrestling opponent stunned and Edan laughing fit to burst a Kidney. Nagi was calmer, simply getting up from her floor seat with a smile and a cursory look about before moving towards Recette, almost as if, even with such a short distance to walk, she was unsure if it was the right direction.

Recette however, frowned. This is where it got harder. Her face hitched itself back from a frown into a less degraded look of discontent.

_One Support...no problems there, but what about my last choice...but worry about that later..._

"Calliou?"

The boy looked up at her questioning tone, before picking up his book in the palm of his left hand and snapping it shut thus. He got up with a regality and walked over, nodding...but he could not hide the gleam in his eyes. Recette's mouth slipped back into a frown. The room's atmosphere had intensified, but only among those Recette knew. Those who had never seen before had degraded into polite curiosity. It was already plain, four out of five team-mates in, that this Merchant was not going to ask for cards. She was simply going to chose from those she already knew.

_Rear Guard...but who?_

She had said five, and she was torn by it. She did not want to endanger all of her friends, but she knew they all wanted to go. She especially lingered on Arma and Tielle, who both would fulfill the job she was looking for...no offense to Edan...but who...to choose?

Her frown thinned as her mouth turned even lower...finally having enough of it, she grit her teeth behind her closed lips and spoke her choice.

"...Ahh..."

"Yes Miss?"

"Tielle."

_**+-1-+**_

The shop's windows glistened in the setting sun as Recette moved to the door and flipped the sign to "Closed", moving back past the crowd of five people near fer after taking the precaution to lock the door. She moved to behind her counter, and with a waggling finger, indicated she should be followed by her friends. Tear fixed a look of warning at Charme, but Charme was not the first person to cross the barrier between store and counter, Tielle was.

Truth be told, the others were slightly nervous. Recette had become more and more reserved as she received their signatures and the scroll had been taken from her. She informed them they would be leaving in the late afternoon, and instructed them to meet her at her shop.

She also instructed them to leave their own personal gear at home; never mind that they had bought much of it from her own shop. They did not protest this. Recette's face and money up-front silenced them. She looked very much in business. She had a game face that intimidated, ever so slightly.

Tielle had been in Recette's house before, and though she had never ventured into he basement per se, she had some small armor against the growing fear her party was experiencing.

Louie took a cautionary glance over the counter as Nagi walked next behind Tielle. He saw the stool that usually housed Recette's behind, a rather simple affair. He expected something fancier. He had seen the throne that was behind Big Bash once...he ignored the open space that Recette had made by her counter by pushing a display table out of the way and vaulted the counter, landing on his feet in a show of bravado to over come the atmosphere.

Charme and Calliou walked by the space indicated together. Recette nodded and pulled a candle from it's holder, shaking her sleeve to cover her other hand before transferring the wax stick there. By this solitary candle, Recette opened a door and walked down a winding staircase into the darkness, only pausing when she was out of easy sight.

"Down here, come on guys."

Calliou wouldn't admit it, but at this point, he was getting slight goose bumps. That dark, winding staircase had swallowed the girl whole. e cast a look at the others, who looked more or less equally apprehensive. He focused on Tear.

"Shouldn't you go after your counter jockey, you know, make sure she doesn't...err...steal anything?"

Tear fixed him with a look of slight amusement, though disgust was the main emotion on her small, pale face. Her wings shone slightly in the dim light as she bobbed up and down. Her voice was crisp however, and cutting. Ever since becoming a full partner to Recette, she found she was more protective over her, and it showed in her willingness to put an end to a charade they both knew they were playing.

"Oh please. You just don't want to be the first down the steps. Besides, you know as well as I do that this is _Recette's_ shop. Not _mine._ I am her employee and partner, not the other way around. You know this. Stop pretending and get down there. I have other people I'm supposed to keep and eye on..."

She pointedly shot a glance at a bored looking Charme, who cracked a cheshire-like grin at her before sobering up.

"Oh keep your skirt on. Do I look like I would steal from innocent little Recette? Girl's got more to worry from a starving Louie than me."

Louie snapped at this comment, opening his mouth angrily as his temper rose faster than his sense. He did not get a chance to retort however, for Charme was grinning again.

"Chill Lou. I was making a point, not attacking yah. Hell, I'LL go first."

She followed Louie's example and jumped the counter, admittedly with more elegance, and took to the steps with little hesitation. Louie fell in right after her, and Tielle with Nagi hurried not to be left behind. Calliou did not waste any breath on a cliché' "Wait for me!" but he did hastily follow the party down as Tear floated in the rear.

The basement of Recettear was quite unlike what most would expect. Instead of dark and dank piles of stock or rich masses of wares in piles, the basement was much like the shop above, almost as if the staircase had taken them right back where they had started from. It was disorienting, and the only clue to the contrary was the fact that there were no windows or door out.

That and the sheer amount of stock on display. Tear could not help the small gasp that escaped her.

Unlike above ground where stock was categorized in artful patterns to catch the eye, showing a little of everything in the front to draw customers in and having a show throughout the rest of the shop of just about everything, this place was grouped by a set system. Hats here, clothes there, foot items there, weaponry here...but it was a full display, not just a few items of each.

What was worse was the fact that the further down you went, the more valuable it all seemed to get. She pulled Louie back. He paused at her touch from bending to examine a dagger he had never seen before.

"Louie, remember the stuff I gave you last time?"

He nodded, and then saw her point to a bag on a table near them. He went to the bag as Recette motioned to Charme. Louie took a look inside. There was the weird looking hat again, th Ishtoril, acting as a kind of half pillow for the Holy Sword. The Amber Shield was winking in what he identified as a friendly way. However...it was covering a suit of armor.

He almost dropped it, his hands were shaking so much. It was a beautiful suit of armor the color of bone. He swallowed hard and tried to speak, but something was stuck in his throat. Unde the armor was a bracelet of similar color with one winking green gem in the middle of it. He looked around to see Recette was near him again, motioning to Tielle. He put out a hand to stop her, since his mouth still seemed to be having trouble working.

"I-Recette...I...I can't...wear this...I mean...it's...I'll make sure I return it pronto...err..."

She tilted her head to the side a little as if confused, though she knew perfectly what he meant as he gestured ineffectually to the suit of armor.

"Why Louie? Its yours. Do you remember the Guardian Armor I sold you?"

Louie nodded dumbly, though the word "sold" was, in his mind, very loosely spoken. He knew she had undercut the cost of that armor _severely_, in fact, it was so undercut, as soon as he walked out the store with his find, he tried inspecting it for flaws. When he found none, he went to Big Bash and tried to ask the merchant at the counter for an appraisal...but he did not know what it was. He called his senior counter jockey. SHE didn't know what it was. Together they called the shift manager. HE ALSO did not know what it was. Fed up, the three of them managed to get a hold of Alouette's father. He was not happy to be called, but his manner changed once he saw the merchandise.

He informed Louie that it was exactly what Recette told him it was, a Guardian Armor, though Louie was mum on where he got it when asked. He tried to buy it from him for 60,000 pix, but Louie declined. He was then offered 70,000, but again Louie declined and decided to thank him and leave...only to pant, eyes wide, outside. Louie was not dumb, despite popular opinion. He knew that merchants loved to buy at half or less price at Big Bash. It meant that this suit of armor was worth at least 120,000pix, and would be sold for probably 145,000 or more... when he took a minute to do the math.

Recette had sold it to him for about the cost of two ham sandwiches... Eight. Thousand. That was practically a GIFT. He brought his mind crashing back to earth and the present on her next sentence as she indicated the suit of armor.

"I took it in for some repairs and fused it up for you. That is your Guardian Armor Louie, only now it's called a Battle Suit...that IS your armor Louie."

NOW he felt like fainting. His hands shook worse than ever as Recette smiled and left him to show Tielle her stuff. Louie felt like if she had touched him, he would have fell over...how much was this thing worth...? HE OWNED SOMETHING THAT WAS NOT A HOUSE BUT WAS PROBABLY WORTH AS MUCH AS ONE. Holyhellhecouldnotbelieveitandhewasgoingnutshemustbedreamingohhellohhellohell...

"Hi."

"AGGGGRH THE KOBOLDS ARE AFTER MY CHEESE!"

Louie wildly spun around with his sword in hand and almost took off Charme's head; if not for her quick and elegant jump backwards that is. She put a hand on her hip and gave him a haughty look, which he returned with a sheepish one.

"Err...sorry Charme...I'm just kinda...spooked."

"I can see that."

She cast an appraising eye over the sword and armor. She was no merchant but she had seen her fair share of treasure...obviously. She grinned wickedly and said loud enough to carry something she knew would make Louie faint, but she decided part-way that she wanted to mess with Recette too...so she would make HER be the one to faint Louie.

"Hey Lou."

"Uhm...I'm sorry for that slice just now Charme, I wasn't thinking."

"Its k...you know that armor?"

"Yeah?"

"It's prob worth about 300k pix."

Recette, as Charme predicted, piped up just in time, her crash course merchant snapping into effect without even thinking.

"Actually it's salable at about 460,000 to 490,000 pix...oh, Louie! No, don't faint! Aww...at least he fell on top of the scarves...Charme...you did that on purpose didn't you..."

Charme only grinned without shame in Recette's direction. Yes. Yes she did. Her own hands caressed the edge of her new "GhostBlade" she decided that she might as well ask since Louie had had his own shock.

"How much for most of my stuff Recette?"

"Barrier plate, about 330k, Ghostblade, also about 330k, same Armband as Louie, Fortuna Armband, about 123k, TrailBlazers, about 70k..."

Charme fingered her new ring, letting it catch in the light. She prompted Recette, since she seemed hesitant.

"...and?"

Her answer was a whisper.

"Soul Ring...and it's not because of the relative value...but it's effect. It's worth about 220k...but it will protect you if you are about to die. If I can't get to you in time...and you are about to die...it will activate and heal you to full strength again...but it's a one time use. It will break after that...guaranteed."

Charme stopped fingering the ring lovingly and regarded it with more reverence. This thing was basically her life-line if things got sticky. Knowing where they were going...it was gonna get sticky. She was the fastest of the team picked. Recette had kept her well equipped and armored, but not ad heavily as the others. It did not take a genius to figure out what Recette wanted her to do...it was not, as Recette had told the director, a copy off the stiff and childish:" Oh just protect me and walk with me." Of Alouette. It was more along the lines of a Thief pack, something she could respect.

Charme, the lightest and quickest, was the scout, meanwhile a heavier armed Louie and...most likely Nagi...were the front guards. They protected Calliou, who was a slow, weak defensively mage, but who had devastating attack. Tielle was rear guard. Her range and power, as well as good eyes made her ideal for that...

This meant that Recette would be just like the usual merchant, ready to pull anyone in the barrier if they got too low, ready to heal them and carry all the items they picked up...wait.

No.

She could not be planning...

Charme grabbed Recette's retreating shoulder in a vice grip. She could bet the merchant was wincing. Charme did not much care. She pulled Recette in close and hissed in her ear.

"You don't plan on staying behind the barrier do you. You want to be outside. That's your plan? To run around unprotected picking up everything and healing anyone when they get too far away? Are you insane?"

Recette didn't answer her. Charme let her go after spinning her around to be facing her. She tried to return to her usual casual, careless air, but having Recette face her with such a defiant look made her fail, hard.

"Well, are you?"

"I'm not crazy! ...and I don't want to answer your other question..."

Her uncomfortable look was telling enough. Charme felt a little guilty, but she did not like this plan. Not. At. All. She had heard what had happened between her and Louie when they had gone off to save Arma. She was afraid Recette was getting a bit overconfident...and despite her jokes, she really did not want to see Recette hurt. Not one bit. It was the adventurer's job to risk their lives...not the merchant's.

Recette had always done it differently...but this time she was not sure if different was the way to go. There was safety in th expression of not fixing something that was not broken...and Recette was walking towards something very un-broken with something very much like a wrench and hammer.

_**+-E-+**_

_"Hmm? Yes. Charme was right."_

_I looked at her, incredulous. A merchant planning on actually going into the fray with her adventurer's against the worst dungeon that had then currently been in existence? Standing alongside them? She stopped me there._

_"No, not along-side them, not quite. They had their jobs, I was simply running after them picking up the stuff the monsters dropped after being beaten, and checking up on them personally if they needed any healing. I was not meant to take any hits directly from monsters."_

_She was not meant to she says. She seems to pick up my point as my eyes shift to her rapier, and before I can speak, she answers me._

_"I did get whacked around some, yeah, but that wasn't part of the plan...it just happened. I'm still alive aren't I?"_

_Something made me want to say "Barely" but I stopped myself. Those eyes were so warm in reflected memories. There was absolutely no trace of that shy sadness and hard edges in her face now...but slowly it all came back, and she was once again "Recette the disgraced shopkeeper turned bard for me." and not "Recette, brilliant if ditsy and lovable child merchant." _

_I felt for her, I really did. I reached into my bag and pulled out the Hourglass I had obtained form her. Her eyes which had dulled form the return of her usual manner, brightened again slightly._

_"Oh, you brought it with you. It's beautiful isn't it?"_

_Yeah. It was. Even slightly discolored from god knows what, it's sand was brilliantly sea-green, and sparkling. However, there was one thing that struck me as odd when I brought it home, something that I had not noticed before, or indeed paid much mind._

_It was almost completely full of sand. _

_How can it be an hourglass if it's almost full? I pointed this point out to her and a small, mysterious smile played briefly on her face before it was gone._

_"Hehe. Don't worry about that, but keep it safe, and keep bringing it with you as I tell you this story. I have a feeling you'll get your answer that way, through action, not words."_

_Again she had stumped me. Couldn't she just tell me? Didn't she know?_

_"Of course I know. I just have a feeling you need to see it to believe it. Bring it tomorrow, and if I'm not done with the story yet, the days after that too. You can tell people you have it and where you got it if you like...but don't sell it. I gave it to you as a gift, and you might have to give it to someone else as a gift before we say goodbye."_

_I looked at the hourglass. It was pretty. Simple as that. I was instantly reminded of her saying Louie was of the same mind about a particular rock he had shown her...I placed it back in my bag and looked out the windows. _

_It was, once more, dark and dreary outside. I turned back to see the shopkeeper smiling sadly before she got up from her seat and whisked my empty plate from underneath me. I had hardly noticed this time, when she had placed it in front of me. She had not paused in her story. I must have eaten it, I have a taste of something in my mouth, pleasant, but inidentifiable...it's been too long gone. _

_As I get up, I suddenly make a decision that I __**won't**__ tell anyone where I got this hourglass full of sand from. Recette is a little too strange, and I doubt she could handle normal customers anymore...something about her is just too melancholy. I wonder what else she has to tell me...what is it that made her like this... from the happy, plucky girl that I can sometimes still see in her eyes as she talks._

_What's worse is it's almost a certainty to me that the happy girl is still there. She's being caged up inside, and it's eating her up. I don't know how I can tell...but I can't shake the thought, not even as she leads me to the door with a small smile and picks off some of my hair from my shoulder, where I did not even realize it was resting. _

_It was a small act of kindness that made me want to hug her, but the next moment she was gone, and I had already walked over the threshold. I was staring at a locked door. Recettear was closed. I looked up to see the sign, slightly aged from the weather and, like the rest of the place, discolored from some indeterminable damage. It was a beautifully made sign, and I wonder where she got it from._

_Maybe I'll ask her next time._

_It swings slightly in the wind as I walk off into the night. I had only a bed at the inn to look forwards too, and the story...once the morning came._

**_+~X~+_**

_When I first spell-checked this chapter, I received a rather large shock. It told me I had no errors. At all. I was flabbergasted. I? Without the ever present typo? Madness! Yet, Fanfiction told me the truth. I had a few, and there is something wrong with the spell-checker I used. Ehh. However, I did have a rather small amount. It's sad that I have typed this at all however. I fully expect no one to review. Even if they do, I expect to see no old faces. I have taken too long to update. Far, far, far too long~. Oh well. If anything, at least this is proof the story is not dead. In the same ways that "A lizard does not die until the sun sets." _

_Good day for now~ Finalage._


	9. Faces

_You know, it may be hard to believe, but I actually had plans to finish this chapter early. Seriously. Seeing Lunar Wave's review, after so long in the darkness, spurred me to action, and if everything had gone according to plan, I would have released this chapter on March 11__th__, a mere week after the last one, which may actually be a record for this slow moving story. Not only that, but I loved the way it had been turning out. But...life is not so simple. The document I was working on got corrupted. Joy. So. Now I have to start it over again. I will say that I try to reward loyalty. So I'm not shirking trying to give a decent update date. I won't relent. I will not!_

_This chapter has a surprise. You see, these past chapters I have put little characterization into the "listening" character in the present, the narrator who takes over once the snippet of the day is over with. Originally, when I started this story, I remember thinking to make this character purposely ambiguous, so that they could act as a suit for the reader themselves to step into, but as the story progressed I started to add little details. By the time the third installment was added, I had a general idea that I wanted this character to be an actual O.C instead of just a suit, and had already developed them. I still kept it more or less "suit" like to try and preserve continuity, slowly placing pieces on the "narrator" for the present time line._

_Last chapter however, I dropped a rather large detail about this person, and at this point I feel that if a reader looks back, there are enough subtle little hints to flesh out this person's general appearance. I have passed the threshold. This person can not continue to be a suit. So, here, we will focus on them, and you'll get to see who has been talking to you alongside Recette._

_Another thing I am aware of is that this story has continuity issues due to the way it was written. At one point the amount of money Louie is being paid quadruples, and at another, Charme jumps over a counter she has already passed by. I am aware of these issues, as well as others that hide here and there. Like Recette clearly picking up three Tuna Shankers, but throwing four. Don't point these out to me. I know they are there, and eventually I will go back and fix them._

_I do not own Recettear or any of it's affiliates, and I doubt I ever will. I am the only one continuing to forge forwards on this front, but that does not mean I own the franchise! I own nothing! (And I don't even own that. =S)_

_A warning. This chapter is rather darker than the others. I did warn from the outset that I am a rather dark author. I am a firm believer in the "earn your happy ending" philosophy. Recettear is a happy go lucky game...mostly. It does have many dark hints in it, but it skates over them with humor. I might have some humor here and there too...but I won't hide the stains on the cloth, and I do plan on pulling out every skeleton in that rather large closet. _

_I do admit that I won't try and make it darker than it has to be however._

_**+RT~**_

_**+~Lemongrass Stains: Recette's Annual. **_

_**Chapter Eight: **__**Faces**_

_**OvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvO**_

_The morning dawned with a deep iron gray in the clouds and biting frigid air that tasted of snow. I spent the morning dressing particularly carefully, which in itself was odd. These past few days I had been simply tossing on whatever was handy. I had hardly paid my own reflection a glance, if that. If I had to be honest...I was ashamed of myself, and I really did not want to see that written all over my face every morning...but I decided I had to try. I took a look._

_I saw the same face I always see, but for some reason that startled me. I had spent of much time looking into the face of another, I almost half expected to see her when I stared at my reflection. It was an odd feeling, that. Like walking into a house after having been on vacation for a year. The house is familiar, and you know it's yours...but you still see the ghost images of your other home, the one you spent the last year in, and it takes a while to get re-used to what you see. I raised my hand to poke my nose. Yep, still mine. I allowed my eyes to scour myself a little. _

_Recette and I were of the same height, perhaps she was the taller of use two, if only slightly. Or perhaps it was simply those boots of hers? I could see her mahogany eyes in mine, though my own are nearly black...it was, again, a ghost image. My own hair seemed abnormally bright after watching the chocolate brown for so long... as if it had caught on fire with it's burning red, instead of the dull embers I remember. I brushed back an errant lock from my shoulder, almost feeling a shadow of a different hand do so, slightly calloused from work handling all manner of things... I shook my head violently. Keep this up and I'd end up liking the girl. I had to stay focused...I had a job to do..._

_Even as I thought it, my face twisted into a frown. I sighed, and a hand came up to massage my forehead, moving down to rub my eye._

_Damn it. Terme Finance did NOT prepare me for this. They told me...they told me it was just..._

…

"_The town of Pensee is broken up into two sections. The second part is an empty waste-land. It was ravaged by a natural disaster. It is an abandoned area. There may be a few old men and beggars meandering about...you are to deal with that. This land has been bought by Tiger Deals. They wish to have it inspected and any individuals on it evicted. Most have already been cleared out. You just have to inspect the houses and see if they are empty, then place an eviction notice around the building. Each plot of land has a different call number. I expect you to handle this efficiently..."_

…

"_...and effectively" _

_I finished the last bit under my breath in a mutter. He had gone on to explain that Pensee's lower half had suffered massive damage and was crumbling land worth nothing to no one. Most individuals had left it, even many of the crusty old men she was expected to meet. It was land going no where, begging to be re-constructed..._

_...or so I had been told. _

_It started with a small pile of bodies in one house, having the look of long suffering damage from neglect and starvation. Only one of those bodies was alive. Barely, the child looked dead to her originally, and she had exited the room as quickly as she could...but not quickly enough to miss the what she had hoped was the imagined, weak call for help. By the time she turned back in a rush of guilt to look into the pile...she swore it was warm...but they were all dead._

…_.An empty wasteland..._

_In another area, a place just as badly damaged as any other, but with the looks of people trying to rebuild. Trying and apparently having been chased off...a single, beautifully cared for patch of land bearing ripe tomatoes...all of them having been recently smashed in the dirt, the stalks trampled on...but one plant was still valiantly standing, bent sideways and with one, final red ripe tomato being held inches from the ground. She did not have the heart to leave it there. She picked it and took it with her._

_...Abandoned by all, begging to be re-constructed..._

_In the final house she had visited...a young woman with bright, pain-filled mahogany eyes, who upon sight hardened them into cages to contain her fire and defiance, and mellowed into cool yet heartbreaking acceptance. A young woman who invited her into the supposedly condemned home to share the hearth and a story...a story that still gripped her now. _

_...Land worth nothing to no one..._

_I pat the hair down on my head so that it would lay flat after the mess it had stirred itself into in my sleep. I bit down a laugh at this action. I had always been so prim, so puffed up and proper. I used to spend long blocks of time on my appearance...until this job. Until I had to see that pile of skeletons and rotting walls of stone and brick. Pensee had brought me to earth like a meteor that was violently pulled from orbit. I had not crashed yet, but the entry into the atmosphere was stripping away my delusions faster than anything else. What would be left when I finally hit the ground?_

_...Was this what had happened to Recette? Had she gone so high and so far she thought she could escape into the heavens, only to come back crashing down? Just as she had been about to grow wings and touch the sky?_

_I shook my head and hurriedly put on my black boots and coat of soft leather. It's brown reminded me of the perfectly turned soil in that garden, and I involuntarily shivered. I tossed on a dark blue knitted scarf and a forest green wool hat. Out in the air, I shivered again, this time from the sheer cold. The wind blasted my face. It really did have a bite of snow in it. I hunkered myself down into my leathers and wool and walked down the street, passing richly built buildings, people who were dressed to impress the impressive. Each person was a bundle of pix, their outfits fit into the hundreds of thousands. Their homes; the millions. _

_Then came the bridge. The bridge that rigidly divided rich from poor. I walked along it thoughtfully. It was a wide bridge, passing a mighty channel that cut Pensee in half...and apparently this water and distance had spared the richer part of town from suffering the same fate the other had. _

_Pensee sat north of a desert land. It's lower half was about three miles from it's official edge. The desert itself is a harsh, unforgiving place, rife with fierce winds and burning sands. It's even possible for those burning sands to pick up dry underbrush in the wind and combine, stirring in a soup of hot air, dry brush and flint like sand like some demonic cooking pot until the whole thing caught ablaze, a "Flame Tempest" of the desert, some of them hot enough to melt the sand around into glass. It was one reason why people still forged into the desert. To collect these glass particles, pure and beautiful. _

_Money made the world go around..._

_However, something in my mind stopped me. The damage was far too perfect. Despite the lower half of Pensee being on the far edge of a desert, and despite the fact that the sands could potentially catch fire in the heat and cause those legendary "flame-tempests" to rage this far to touch Pensee...fire tempests were wild things...they did not destroy with rigid precision. Not to mention that the tempests usually stirred where the heat was most fierce, in the middle of the desert lands. It was highly unlikely that one would form so close to the edge, even less so that it would travel past the edge into the cooler lands to reach Pensee._

_I paused in the middle of the bridge. No. This was not a natural disaster. The tomatoes. The pile of skeletons and the still warm body of a child. The girl with the mahogany eyes of cold, sad acceptance. There was something else in the air. Something indecent and hidden. I realize this as suddenly as I realize another fact._

_Recette knew. She knew everything that had happened...and knew I was the enemy. _

_I knew this a certainly as I had suddenly. Somehow, Terme Finance was behind this destruction, and therefore, I was the enemy. I was the cause of all that pain, and was about to bring more. _

_I shivered. That sadness and acceptance was also accusatory. I felt like punching myself for being so slow. Of course. I was the one who would push her out of house and home, the only home she ever knew. Not even the least for what she had to do to keep it...but what DID she have to do to keep it...?_

_I knew her home was an item store, but was that really her solution to paying her bills? Was it owned by her parents before her? How did she come to run an item shop so young? Questions..._

_What had happened to Pensee?_

_What part did she play?_

_How could so few years change a little happy girl into the sad woman I saw?_

_Where were her parents?_

_Where were her friends?_

_Why was Terme Finance so much of an enemy?_

_Well the last one was kind of stupid to ask. I knew from her story that it's president had done her wrong...or was he even still president? Did he die? Did she find out? Was this man who wanted to control the entire economy still my boss?_

_What knowledge was behind those large, expressive eyes?_

_Questions...and only one place to find answers._

_I walked by a pile of crumbling bricks, what used to be someone's garden wall. Again, I shiver. _

_After some time of walking and thinking, I realize I have passed the shop. I backtrack hastily and realize why I did not realize earlier I had passed this building I have been calling a sort of home for the past few days. The sign. It seemed ironic to me that just yesterday I had been admiring it and wondering where Recette had gotten it...and now it's gone, as if I myself have taken it away from her...like that paper I have sitting in my pack will do to everything else she calls home. _

_I involuntarily swallow. Without that cheery if discolored and aged sign, the place is far more foreboding, what with it's dark, lifeless windows showing dusty and empty counters and the baleful, eye-piercing glare of reflected sunlight from the gray sky above, what little there was that is. It seemed to focus all that was there to blast it in my eyes, and made the shop inside seem all the darker, all the colder. _

_Almost as if the building itself was angry at me for what I had in store for it. Almost as if it KNEW I was here to have it knocked down..._

_Perhaps it did..._

_I half hoped, as I reached out with a hand that had three quarters it's own mind, that the door would be locked. Yet...the building was open, and the door swung behind me loosely before I closed it behind me. There was a lonely candle lit on the tellers counter, but besides this sign of life, there was nothing. I was not surprised I had not spotted this lone, guttering candle from the outside. It hardly did anything to warm the atmosphere, in fact, it made it worse._

_I walked up to the counter and paused. There, on one of the display tables was the sign. It had been lovingly cleaned and oiled, no longer looking so forlorn and discolored, but still...the words had been repainted, or perhaps it was a trick of the light and oil. The sign looked darker now, as if the letters and wood were fruits that were once ripe and now have dulled as they head towards the dismal look of the rotten and dry. It's half wrapped in a cloth._

_The sound of a plate clattering against the counter made me jump a mile...if you did not take gravity into account. As it was I jumped about a foot before whirling around. I then almost crashed into a counter in my haste to move backwards. _

_Recette was uncomfortably close, her face drawn in quiet scrutiny, eyes narrowed. He hand darted out and snatched something from my hair. A dead leaf. I had tried to bite back a squeak as she did so. The leaf was slightly damp, but she crumpled it into dust in her hand nonetheless. Her eyes mellowed and expanded into their large selves again. Then they suddenly narrowed once more, and I involuntarily gulped. Her voice was crisp and sharp when she spoke._

"_Why are you sitting on a display counter? I don't recall you being for sale."_

_The question threw me for a loop until I realized that, in my haste to back up from her, I had hopped unto a display counter. One of the ones Recette usually took as a seat herself as she told me her story. Her sentence sparked something in my head, and it pushed all my other questions aside._

"_...and you are? You usually sit here."_

_Her eyes glinted, despite being narrow they still held a sliver of that quality. A humorless half smile was there too._

"_Terme Finance has already put a price on my life, my home and all else mine. I'm already a bought item. I sit on my counter waiting for my purchaser to claim me, but it seems you want to humiliate me first by asking me what it is exactly you bought. So I sit here...telling you."_

_Her sentence felt like a hammer in my gut. She needed no effort to move me from her counter and unto the seat for the teller. She placed a hand on the counter and gracefully lifted herself up, placing herself with finality "up for sale". Now I knew why she always placed herself unto that counter instead of a more comfortable place, day after day, instead of getting a chair...and I did not much like the answer...my next question rose before I could stop it, and again, it wasnot one that I had before walking into here._

"_...Why?"_

_It was the only word I could manage, my hand outstretched to indicate the sign between us. Her answer was in that same sharp, crisp tone. That had shot a hammer in my gut just a minute before...only this time, it cut at me like a thousand knives._

"_Do I really need it anymore?" _

_I stayed silent. Recette moved herself more comfortably on the counter...or tried to. A bang interrupted her. She turned to see he door of her shop swinging free, some flakes of snow flying in with the gusts of frigid air. She pulled herself off the counter to close it. _

_I thought I had closed that door..._

_Recette frowned at the snow flurries swirling outside. She did not turn from the window, but spoke without preamble._

"_Where is it?"_

_Her voice was at least no longer in that sharp, cutting form, but even without any prior prompting, I knew what she was after. The eviction notice. The piece of paper that rested in my pack. The piece of paper that I had hesitated to place on this one building. The piece of paper that I had slapped without a second thought on more other buildings...until I had started to listen to the story...and see the sights. _

_Before I had started to get my illusions of a bonus and a job well done and maybe a promotion stripped away as I fell from the sky...like that meteor...I wondered if what was left of me when I finally did crash would be as composed as the woman in front of me. _

_...Probably not. If I had fallen as far and as hard as this girl must have...to be a top merchant, struggling alone...doing who knows what...and then to fall to this...to lose her friends when as she saw at least one of them betrayed her somehow...I would have broken. If we had switched places, Recette would have found an empty house, maybe with another grinning skeleton on the floor..._

_I shivered at the thought. My lips formed a lie._

"_I...I don't have it."_

_Recette sighed. She still had not turned around. Again, my questions came out. I decided to try a question my previous thought train had brought up. How...why...was Recette alone in running an item shop? But still...the only word that came out of my mouth was again:_

"_Why?"_

_My tone seemed to galvanize her to look back at me. She still did not turn around fully. Just a backwards glance with her head. She turned fully when my hand swept the expanse of the shop. Her voice was again hard, but not quite as curt. It was more hurt._

"_I was abandoned."_

"_Huh?"_

"_My shop. I made it to keep back loneliness. I had been abandoned by my father. I was alone. Poor. Forced to learn...what plants were edible in the town plaza."_

_I made no comment. But internally I was aghast. He built it herself? All of this? She seemed to read my thoughts, and again I wondered at her ability to tell what someone wanted to know...but then again, I reminded myself, in a burst of brilliance..._

_It probably was not magic, or anything that was unnatural as I had first thought. Recette knew what I wanted...like any good merchant would. Simple as that._

"_No..not by myself. I told you Tear was my partner. But...how...a fairy, and a girl...starting an item shop...for what purpose? Why?"_

_She she told me. The sun was high in the sky behind heavy snow drifts and dark gray clouds before she had finally reached the day she had started with, that final day and her sale to the demon Griff. I was again speechless. I look at her. She had not moved throughout the entire telling, besides to turn back towards the outside to watch the snow. _

_I take back what I said earlier. No. I would not have crashed and died after falling down from the high sky. I would have burned apart before the climb could even have been finished. I would have been crushed by the weight of it. I would have given up trying. Hell, I don't even think I would have tried. I would have done what Tear thought Recette had done on the first day. I would have run away, not cheerily went and made a shop sign._

…_.and here I was to take it away again. I was Tear again...only without the option of success. Only failure. _

"_I would have failed. I couldn't do that."_

_Recette hugged herself, and for the first time, I saw that the loose dress and apron she wore hid a thin figure underneath. Her belt was not the waist line, the belt held up the fabric, not clinched it to her. A hard and active life...her voice was bitter when she continued._

"_You would have had no choice."_

"_Ehh?"_

"_Continuous Time Snap-back Loop. CTSL. You know about Avall and his plans to use the power of Fairies, magic, economy, time, money..."_

_I frowned...I had never studied magic before, but the term TSL sounded familiar. It was standard procedure for someone who needed to pay a large debt back and the debt had been deferred to another, but it was only possible when the person paying the debt was willing and if they had..._

_I looked up. I had never understood magic. My eyes traced Recette's form. The format of TSL was used usually once, and the reason for snapping back had to be "pure" I assumed continuous meant you did not have to complete a spell every time you failed but just..._

_My eyes nearly bugged out of my skull. I stared at Recette's back so hard, I think she felt it. She turned around to look at me, a small, sad smile on her face. I think I started to shake._

"_You...agreed to that...?"_

"_No. I did not know. At least...not at first. At first I thought I was just having a bad dream, that after promising to work had and having a first day of stock, my mind would rush ahead, providing me with a dream where I would fail. The first time it happened, I was frantic. I hardly knew why I had this stock I did not have yesterday, but I assumed I was mixing my dreams with reality...I thought I had bought it yesterday and then dreamed I had acquired it elsewhere. When things began to repeat themselves, I was afraid...afraid my dreams were becoming reality..._

_..but then it happened again..._

…_.and again..._

…_.and again..._

_...and...again..._

_...again..._

_...over..._

…_.and over...and over..."_

_I could not hear it anymore...she did not agree to it...but they put her in it anyway. I suddenly understood why they had sent a fairy to do this for her...she was an anchor. The fairy would be unaware, since the spell would affect her memory too, most likely...like I say I don't know much about magic...but her friend Tear would have been the tie in, the one to initiate the spell by serving Recette the papers. _

_So the girl would loop until she succeeded...and meanwhile, any profit she made and sent to Terme would be kept. The spell did not affect material belongings. Yes...I would not have survived this climb...I would have burned. It seems I had forgotten to speak,for when I found my mouth again, once more I would only say the word why._

_Why had her father left her to this...? Why did he just up and leave? Did he die...?_

_She answered me without prompt, her bearing was like a statue, far too composed to be actually calm, but she was a damn sight better than me. I could not stop staring, or shivering. I felt like kicking myself. This woman was far stronger than me...this town was far more resilient. Where the greatest worry I used to have was what I would spend my extra money on, or what bow to wear in my hair...these people had to worry if they would have any to begin with. _

_I had to admit, I never knew poverty. I grew up well, lived well...I did not know what it was like to grovel on my hands and knees in some dirty plaza and pick weeds to see if they were edible or not...but the thought of it made my stomach turn in knots._

"_He was not dead. He was alive. If you recall, I told you this..."_

_I did recall, now that she said it. A man with no shirts and his pants on his head with eye holes cut in, fighting a single tentacle monster in his undies...my face burned. Yes...he was not dead. Just insane. I did not say this out loud, but she seemed to understand all the same. _

"_You can't really blame the man. I don't. He was a single father for at least nine years. He was not ready for it."_

"_You're mother...?"_

"_No, she did not die. She left. Just like him. She...abandoned me. Him. Abandoned us."_

_I felt sick. I didn't want her to continue, but she seemed unable to stop. I had a feeling she did not even discuss this with her friend Tear. I wanted her to stop...please...stop...but she would not._

"_My mother, as I have said before, was very much like my friend Charme...and I did say this once before too. One day she partied and just...did not come back home..."_

_Again, memory served me with frightening accuracy. Yes, she had explained this already. Her mother was like Charme, her father, like Louie. _

"_My father tried. I can guess they were heavy party—goers before they had me. I can't remember when I was one or two, but I can guess what happened. My father grew up. Faster than my mother did. He sobered down and tried to be a daddy...but my mother did not want to be a mommy. She continued to party...and I can guess he tried to satisfy her too...but when I was three...it just was not enticing enough. She wanted more, and my father could not longer provide..so she left._

"_He loved her. I can guess that much, he loved her a lot...at three I can't remember much either, but I can see that he must have tried to find her. Tried to bring her back. By the time I was six however, he changed...and I remember bottles. I learned to keep away. Not that I needed to. He would come home late...and leave early. I learned to take care for myself...he stopped cooking when I was seven."_

_Just stop...I felt like screaming at her to stop. I could not bear it. I had asked her, but I don't want to know the answer anymore...but the blasted girl seemed unaware, for once, as to what I wanted._

"_He avoided me. It also seemed like he had forgotten my mother. We had little money for ourselves, but he seemed determined to use it to find other women. I...learned to sleep deeply and early, and often. Tear often complained about my ability to sleep...she wanted to know how it was possible for me to sleep so much...or why only the loudest of her yells would get me up...I never told her why."_

_It was a mark of my good life that I did not understand what Recette meant by that sentence instantly, but when I did, my face burned red._

"_It happened when I was eleven that I learned why he was avoiding me. He came home one night, earlier than usual, but very...inebriated...Tear would have been proud of me...to know that word..."_

_At the mention of Tear, the door burst open again on a gust of ferocious wind. I thanked nature for giving me this pause, but since Recette was right by the door, she hardly moved save to catch the door and snap it shut, and lock it for good measure. She frowned at it before continuing. _

"_I came out from putting food on the table. I did this out of habit, I knew it would be gone in the morning. I tried to hurry away to bed. I thought he had found someone early...but he was alone, and he caught sight of me. He came roaring after me, screaming..."_

_I looked at her...surely not...?_

"_In me, he saw the ghost of my mother, who had abandoned him all those years ago...and he was angry with her...oh he was angry with her...but I was fast. He raged against the house, he almost caught me a few times...but he didn't. When his rage was spent, the kitchen was destroyed, and I fell asleep hiding."_

_Not. I'm not certain this was better however._

"_When he awoke in a ruined kitchen, I think he was scared. There was some soup and blood on the walls. He had got me a few times nearly, but he did not hurt me severely...he scared me more than anything...but I think in those first few hours as he frantically searched for me, that he was afraid he had...maybe for the first time in years he felt like a father again...and was terrified. When he found me, he was angry, and I think I saw his face change into fear again when I bolted. When he finally found me again, he was gentler...I went with him...but I was scared."_

_I was looking at the floor, so when I saw a drop of water hit it, I looked up, startled. Recette was still stock still, and her voice was firm as ever, but even from behind I could tell the water had come from her eyes._

"_I was so very scared of him...he apologized...endlessly he apologized...but he was still my father, and without him, I had no one...for a few weeks, I was his little girl again...like I had not been since I was four...he made mistakes, he still dunk some and some days he still came home angry, but he was never so bad as that night...and he would always try to make up for it..._

"_Then, a year before he left, he started to talk about adventure. I think he was reliving his childhood. He still had friends come over, they were younger than him, so I think their still fresh taste for adventure infected him. But he soon would not stop talking about it...Walnut Bread Fishermen and other stuff that made no sense...but I believed him. He was my father and I had no other source of information...I clung to his stories. They were his proof of his love...his affection...and then he left. He abandoned me. Like Mother did. At first I thought it was just a long journey, but as days became weeks...and weeks months...I stopped setting a table for two. I still made for two, but it usually got eaten by me as leftovers...and then...Tear came. I bet you wonder why I was so happy to have Tear, even though I knew she had been my effective jail keeper...but this is why. I was alone. I had been abandoned. I was nothing...what she was offering was hard, but..._

"_To run an item shop...to save my house, to sell things to people, to have someone who was willing to stay with me in an empty house...It was...like being given a slice of heaven. I did not care much that I was being used. I just did not want to be left alone...but eventually...eventually I realized I could not continue to do this...I was making too much, being too successful,so continue to fail...I never failed on purpose...but I would admit I did not want to succeed...I was afraid..._

"_...afraid of being abandoned again..."_

_She turned to look at me still staring at the floor. Her movement made me look up. Her eyes were dry._

"_But I knew I could not trap Tear, trap everyone...in this loop with me. Everyone had the right to live, everyone. I could not just keep rewinding time just because I did not want to face being alone again... keeping time in a loop forever just for my own happiness...would have been infinitely wrong. I couldn't do it. So I succeeded."_

_I did not say anything. She walked back to her counter and sat back down on it. That simple action did it for me. I could not take her sitting down on that counter, not when I knew what it meant._

"_I did not buy you."_

_Recette fixes me with a look that makes me feel very small. Like an insect. It's not in the look itself, or in her bearing...or even in the tone when she opens her mouth to speak...but somehow that look made me feel like a bug._

"_You already put the money up front. You only need to stop pretending and give me the paper we both know is in your bag."_

_So. She knew. It did not surprise me in the least that she knew. I made no comment, and she settled herself more comfortably on her counter space. This started what was definitely the quickest fire conversation we have had to date._

"_I don't plan on buying you either."_

"_I'm already bought."_

"_Well then I return the money then."_

"_It's not yours to return."_

"_Then I forfeit the right to pick you up."_

"_Are you sure you know what that means?"_

"_..."_

_In truth, I had no answer to that question. _

"_What do you mean...?"_

"_Are you certain you understand what refusing to pick me up means? Are you certain you even know what is going on here? Do you have any idea what one building, one person's home with a failure to place eviction on means?"_

"_...They can't break it down?"_

"_No. They can. The land was already bought. The notice means absolutely nothing save for a nicety and to make sure when they come to demolish there is nobody inside, if there is; it's not their fault. You are saving no one anything by failing to do your job. Did you think they would break down every OTHER house and street and leave this one building standing and build around it?"_

_I had no answer for her again. She was making me feel stupid, and honestly, I could not blame that. It seemed absurd once I put thought into it. Which was exactly what I was not doing...putting thought into it. _

"_What happened here? Why is this place like this?"_

"_You know already. I'm pretty sure they-"_

"_No. They told me it was a natural disaster."_

"_Then it was."_

"_It wasn't"_

"_How are you so sure?"_

"_It's too precise. Too perfect. Pensee's poor was getting too rich, closing the gap between the rich and the dirt. That was your fault. You were bringing business in. It's too convenient that a disaster plows through and slaps the offending wrist of peasants that the rich think were becoming too bold."_

"_..."_

"_I'm right aren't I?"_

_Recette looked at me. Her face was closed. Her tone betrayed nothing._

"_Do you want to know?"_

_I was aghast. Wasn't I just saying that?! _

"_Obviously!"_

"_I asked you this question already, but...are you sure? Are you sure you know what that means?"_

"_...How can I?"_

_She sighed. She looked away from me and out the window, looking at the deepening snow and the darkening sky. It was getting vicious out there...I'd never seen snow go so high, even though if I said that Recette would probably laugh at me. It was probably twice the height of my ankles if I were to walk barefoot...not that I ever did such a crazy thing, but the snow was coming down still, and visibility was near nil._

"_I'm I'm honest with myself..."_

_I turned to look at her again, tearing my eyes from the window. She was still gazing out there._

"_...I had planned to just tell you a lie when you came in today. End the story on a nice note, we go in have an adventure, come out and then I would tell you we went our separate ways slowly over the years. The story might have lasted more than one day still, but in the end it would be happy enough. I would have closed up shop of my own choice and now accepted the fate of destruction and eviction...you might have been able to tell it was fake...I don't know...but then I saw your face when you came in today, the way you looked at my sign...and I had some hope for the first time since I saw you. Maybe...just maybe I could still fight. It's up to you however..._

_She turned to look at me. Her hand was outstretched, and she did not need to tell me what she was. _

"_You could give me the notice and I'll go quietly. You can close up the shop for the last time...or you can sit there and listen to the story. The real one."_

((Author's Note: This is the kind of time you frantically look for the save button on a game. Sure, at first glance the option seems obvious...but think about it and tell me, is it really? Not to me it isn't. If I did not know already where I wanted to go, this would be a tough one for me to choose...))

_For the first time since I met her, her eyes were completely unguarded. They had the ghosts of tears in them, but she was not by a long shot crying. In her eyes I saw the dim reflected light of that barely guttering candle, now burnt so low it was practically gone, and the shop sign dully winking in the corner. I saw myself, still puffed up and prim, well nourished and, compared to Recette, then some. I was dulled and blurred somewhat by these past few days, but no one could call me poorly cared for._

_Is this was she saw when she looked at me? A woman like this? It seemed that in Recette's eyes I saw more than my own mirror dared to show me. It was like I was seeing my soul alongside my body, not as I would see it when I looked upon a mirror, but as others saw me. By my own judgment, my soul in those eyes was a pitiful thing. _

_Perhaps Recette was more reserved in judgment, perhaps she was more gentle, but to myself, looking in this mirror, I was wretched. Spoiled. Untested and soft. My daddy's little sweet pumpkin girl and my mothers little pampered princess. I was older than Recette, but still...I was younger. _

_My hands reached back to my pack, and I pulled with ease the eviction notice from my pack. It glowed dully in the dimness. It seemed to suck up the entirety of that candle and hold it within. Recette's eyes hardened slightly, but her hand did not shake. It was still held outstretched and waiting for me to place it so gently there...my hand descended..._

_...and at once I could not do what I had planned to. In one swift movement my other hand shot out and grabbed the first, and two handed I swung the paper out to the candle it was so intently absorbing light from._

_The paper caught aflame eagerly, as if the candles' flame was begging to do this one thing for Recette before it went out into the night. I watched the flame eat hungrily at the paper before realizing, rather foolishly that I was still holding the paper...and there was nowhere I could put it that would not also catch fire potentially...and it was getting rather close to my hand._

_I frantically looked about for some place to put it and then squeaked when the flame touched my hand, I promptly dropped the paper and then watched in bug eyes horror as it descended to the floor, only to hear a sharp, barked word and see a shot of ice snap out and snuffed out the fire before the charred stub of remaining paper drifted to the floor. I looked up, surprised. Recette was looking at me._

"_I-I...you...with...I...magic?"_

_I was a mess as I held my burned hand with the other, Recette held out hers in answer, and I let her see my hand. I winced as her hands grabbed mine. They were rough, not because of any harsh handling on her part; but because she had callouses on them. It wasn't burnt. It was a bit red from where the heat had licked it, but it had done no more than tease me before I had dropped it. Recette's hands were doing more damage than the flame had, I winced at the touch of rough skin on my vulnerable soft ones._

"_Y-you can use magic."_

_Though if I'm honest, her hands were not really all that rough. It was more mine being soft. She seemed satisfied that I had come to no injury after about half a minute and let me go. She walked around the tellers counter, for she had jumped off hers to inspect my hand, and quietly took the candle that had started it off and used it to light another before blowing out the original. She set the old one to cool and allow it's remaining wax to re-harden. It was only when she took a seat, (and not on the display counter, but the tellers one, which made me wonder what that was supposed to symbolize...) That she answered me._

"_Yes. I learned how."_

_I waited for her to say some more, but she was not forthcoming. _

"_I won't say anymore, because I'd be spoiling my story then, wouldn't I?"_

_She took another glance outside at the dark sky. The snow was still falling heavily, and she gestured to it. It was getting late. I shook my head however. I was uncomfortable with that much snow, and said so. She smiled with some humor in it and I knew she was laughing at me, not with me. I did not much care though. After what she had gone through, she deserved a few jokes at my expense. I asked her if she knew what that amount of snow would do to me. She actually grinned this time._

"_Nothing, your boots are at least twice as high as that snow is."_

"_B-But...the leather would get wet."_

"_Oh dear, wet leather! That is terrible."_

_I knew I wanted her to have a few laughs, and I did not mind them being at my expense, but really...come on...it's wet leather! It would dry out. It would get stiff. It would leak through! Something! I grumbled into my hair as she laughed at me... Still, I could not help feeling slightly proud. This was the happiest I have seen her. She sobered quickly however._

"_So. You chose to know. Don't blame me for what happens next. I'm going to tell you everything..."_

_She looked up as she heard a bang form her door. I looked up too. There was nothing I could see in the darkness outside, except the barest hint of swirling snow, though I knew it was still coming down hard. Recette looked curiously at the door before her hand moved in a kind of gesture, almost like she was not even aware she was doing it, some half remembered greeting. He shook herself a bit before muttering something I barely heard._

"_That can't be...she's gone..."_

_She did not elaborate., but looked at me and took a breath. Then she hopped off the counter and whisked away the plate she had put food for me upon, and again I noticed I had eaten rather automatically. She busies herself a bit by the counters before going up the steps. _

_It takes her about ten minutes before she descends down the steps again and plops a bowl of some form of soup in front of me. It steams lightly. I look at it with interest before she herself hops up on the tellers counter with a bowl of her own and blows. Her feet swing back and forth like a child's in the air and she observes me and takes a sip before setting it down._

"_So. I left you in my basement, didn't I?"_

**_+~E~+_**

_I hope you guys could tell, but for a few minutes as I wrote about Recette and our "present day narrator" with the eviction notice, I hesitated, wondering if I should be horrendously evil and make it a cliff hanger. Yet, when I thought about it, I could not go through with it. Long story short, I am very erratic in updating this...so the cliff hanger would be extremely cruel, and despite having only Lunar Wave review, I know for a fact more people read this...(You guys just lurk in the shadows, but I see you! I SEE YOU!) So it would be infinitely wrong to keep you all for so long form something you want after holding it back for so long already. _

_One thing I will say for this story is despite it's continuity issues, it seems remarkably sound quality wise. I have other stories where I have gone on hiatus (as obviously I was not simply abandoning this ONE story when I went on hiatus all that time..) and the quality of the chapters jumps like mad. I have characters yelling out in caps with poorly displayed grammar in one chapter, along with nearly no background setting and in the next chapter, crisply detailed (at least, by my writing standards crisp) background and strong grammar and emphasis on reactions. It's remarkable that this story has managed to remain mostly mellow in the quality shifts._

_I played a while with the idea of putting more into this chapter, however when I looked at it I was surprised to find it about twice as long as this stories average chapter length, and much, much closer to the length I used to write for "Young Negi: An Applied Approach" which was my "Rite of Passage" story. I made most of the changes to my writing style during that 479,000+ word monster, and as a result, other stories benefited from the practice. The average length for one of those chapters was eight thousand to ten thousand words and this sidles in at just over eight point two thousand, at least by my count, Fan Fiction says different. _

_I'm aware I have massive authors notes to take into account on both ends, but hey, I wanted to talk to you all~. XD._

_I guess this makes this chapter an apology? I did not mean for it to be..._

_Good day, hope you enjoy and maybe review?~C.F. Winchester: Finalage._


	10. Preparations

_Last Chapter, I was half-way through it when I began to listen to a song I had not listened to for a long while. It's funny, it's a dark song, but from the point I began to listen to it, the chapter lightened up in tone. I' m glad that I didn't scare anyone away with the last chapter. I was worried I might have. I promise I won't "tack on dark stuff" just because I can. So far I have tried to explain every single dark piece and why it was there, and as I am working off my memory of the game's storyline, I think that, so far; I have done a fairly good job providing cannon. _

_I was happy with last chapter, which is a rare thing to say. I knew it would be dark, but I was happy how it turned out. I hope I can say the same for this one. I hope I can be happy at it's turn out, and I hope you guys like it too._

_I will take it as a good sign though, that the first three thousand words were written during the first twenty four hours after I had submitted the last chapter. XD_

_This chapter contains a few hints of a story arc that will come later on. I won't say more than that however, I don't want to spoil anything~Finalage._

_Once again...I own nothing of Recettear franchise. Carpe Fulgur and Easy Game Station take full credit for their work._

_**+RT~**_

**Lemongrass Stains:**** Recette's Annual. **

**Ch****_apter Nine:_****_ Preparations_**

**OvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvO**

The candles guttered lower as the time passed, and the few vending machines that graced the shop, purely for storage of low priced items, cast a baleful and harsh white light that was eerie without any sunlight to counter balance it. The treasure of the room provided a glowing reflective surface, they shone with absorbed light as the adventurers organized the gifts that they had been given.

Charme winced as a hand closed, rather clamp like, on her arm. The skin that brushed hers was somewhat tough, the first, flaky callouses of hard work that would be doled on a hand before they hardened into the softer, if stronger; second type. The hold was shockingly firm. She turned and was surprised to see a set of large, chocolate eyes looking up at her.

"Please stay Charme. I want to show you something before you go."

Recette had just dismissed them all from her basement after handing them their new equipment. She had shepherded them into the first floor so that they all stood in a semi-circle around her, pressed in behind the teller's counter. She looked at each of them in turn before settling the candle she had carried down with her back into it's bracket on the wall.

Her eyes hovered a fraction of a second longer on mine before she spoke to us all.

"I want you guys to spend a month preparing. I want to make sure you guys are used to the equipment I have given you. I don't want anyone to be scared to use it. Louie, I don't want you fainting because you feel you don't deserve what I gave you. You do. Please use it..."

She cast him a slightly shy look, and I felt a little birdie nestle an idea in my brain. I grinned despite myself. Recette continued.

"I won't call you guys for any job at all for this month, but if you get a job from someone else, please take it, as long as it does not make you late for our appointment next month. I will spend the next month preparing stock for us to use once we get in there...and guys, be careful. I want you all to take it seriously...I have a bad feeling about this one...no one has returned yet, and I think there is a reason for that..."

Her eyes swept again at all of us, and for once, happy Recette's sober plea was taken seriously. Sure, we all were excited for the treasure and the money and the thrill, but we understood what this month was for. She had done everything she could to prepare us, and would continue to try and make a strong front for us. It was our job to prepare our own skills. It was a big difference from her usual style of rushing in to get the goods, and it showed how much she cared. I swore her eyes paused on Louie again, and once more that little birdie gave a chirp, but I wasn't sure if I was just imagining it. Still, I liked the concept my mind was cooking.

Tho' If I'm honest, I was never a good cook.

Recette dismissed the bunch, and I took a seat on one of her display counters. Tear glared at me, but I waved the fairy away, not that I could. The pixie just floated to my other side, still glaring. Recette however, looked up at me.

"I can't put a price on you Charme. You don't belong on a counter to be sold..."

Her face was confused as she said it, and I'm sure it was just her becoming a merchant so quickly that was the cause, but to me, the sentence seemed strangely profound. Recette was probably just somewhat broken by Tear and thought everything on the counter needed a price...but to say something like that...that she could not put a price on my value to her...it was cute.

I hopped off the counter and put a hand on my hip, surveying the girl. Well, here I was.

"You wanted me for something Recette?"

"Yep! Tear, I'm going somewhere with Charme, could you close up for me?"

As expected, the fairy nearly exploded. Her glare was like fire at me, and I was quite uncomfortable... I pushed a stray lock of hair from my face to avoid looking at it, but I still felt the burn. Her tone barely brooked argument, but it was still somewhat civil as she addressed Recette.

"At this hour? Charme could not possibly have agreed to handling any sort of business that has to deal with her skill set at this time Recette...and I do not approve of any other sort of... "activity" she may have agreed to."

Aww come on. Tear was probably still grilling me on the "I want to take you home with me." comment I had once made. I was just joking! ...Mostly.

I do feel that Recette would probably have been better off with me than with Tear, even now; I still feel the fairy is using her. Recette is a good kid, and Tear...was a loan shark. Even former, I feel she still needs to use Recette as a shield, maybe from her former employer, maybe from an enemy I know nothing about. I don't know. Recette however, waved her down.

"I just wanted to talk with her Tear. There is a part of the plan that I need to tell her."

Tear flapped her wings impatiently and rose a few inches in the air.

"...and you could not have said it earlier? Recette, you have orders tomorrow..."

"Aww, I know! I just need to explain this piece to her, alone. It's a surprise! I wont take long! Pleaase?"

Grumbling, the fairy seemed to wrestle with herself and the look Recette was giving her. I knew it was useless. Recette was like an open flame, and Tear was the moth. She flitted about and around, but she so desperately wanted to get closer. There was no point fighting the look. The look won all. The look was unconquerable. Tear admitted defeat with a sigh.

"Fine, but not too late. I expect you back before I'm ready to close up, otherwise I won't open the shop for you. You can then sleep outside."

"Aww, come on~! What if it rains?"

"Go Recette."

Recette took my hand and led me out of the shop and into the night. The moon was out in full force today, a big round milk colored drop, casting everything in a bright glow that made it easy to see. It reflected off the cobblestone roads as Recette lead me away and into the plaza. It was a good temperature too. Perfect night for a stroll with no plans at all in mind. Recette set a surprisingly brisk pace, but I was certain that threat of sleeping outside was fresh in her mind.

Sure, it was a beautiful night, but who would rather sleeping outside to sleeping in your own soft bed? Not me, and certainly not Recette it seemed. Though I admit, there are some crazy nuts who-

We arrived at the plaza rather faster than I thought, and Recette broke her grip on me to walk a few paces ahead. She stopped, but did not turn around. He voice floated back to me...

"I wanted to show you this."

I saw a glint of silver. It was my old weapon. She was holding it firmly as she spun around, took a position, and then, without much more warning than that, sprung at me. I backpedaled furiously, swinging out my new GhostBlade. The two weapons barely had a chance to connect before Recette drew back and attacked form another angle.

Why in hell was she attacking me? What was she trying to do?

I twisted away from her stab, and she pulled back. She looked at me with a leveling look.

"Please Charme, do this for me. I want to show you what I can do...I 'm not crazy..."

Suddenly, I understood. I had called her out on her plan to remain outside the barrier. I had called her insane. Now she wanted to let me be the judge and prove she was _not_ insane, in the only way that made sense...

...by showing me what she could do.

She shot at me from the left, and I twisted away from her only to swing out my GhostBlade to deflect her sideways slash.

So, she swung out her weapons in an arc like I did. Had she been watching me as I fought?

Well it made sense with the weapon in her hand to be fair...not many different way you can swing that weapon properly...but I don't charge in like that...that was something more like...

I ducked under another slash and swung out my blade. She used her foot to knock it away and forced herself forwards again with her blade. I suddenly had a burst of understanding. That was Elan's style of play!

I ducked away from her charge and swung out my blade at her back. She spun around and parried with her own weapon. The two of us locked blades. She had a firm grip but...I twisted my blade and her grip slipped, but she broke the lock before I could disarm her. She stepped to the side quickly so that I would lose my balance, or at least the move was designed to do so. I was too quick however, and I tumbled into a roll to avoid the slash that came next. I popped up in time to side step her next slash, and stabbed out with the blunt of my blade. It hit her solidly in the middle and she took a few steps back, winded. I used this time to slash out again with the blunt, trying to knock her weapon out of her hand, but she recovered faster than I gave her credit for. She grabbed my wrist with her free hand and gave a punch to my midsection. It winded me some, but I could not escape as she still had my wrist. I couldn't backpedal, so I kicked her. She let go and took a few steps back, but she was able to parry my next slash.

"How long?"

She ducked when I broke the parry and swiped out for a slash, but she answered as she tried to get past my guard with a sweep kick that I jumped back to avoid.

"Two months. Elan had offered to give me some training before then, but I had been too afraid to accept at the time...but when Louie and I came back from the Lapis Ruins, I realized that I could not just rely on the barrier to protect me all the time...what would I do if I had to get one of you guys when you fainted, and the boss decided to target me? What would I do?"

She ducked another slash and swung out, only to have her hand caught and for me to kick her in the middle again, she wheezed a bit, but I had to admit, her endurance was good, she recovered quickly enough. So, she had used that time between then and now like this? That was all well and good but two months was not enough to make you think you could handle anything...

"You don't get enough endurance from two months, not like this."

I accepted a rush attack form her and twisted to the side to avoid her at the last second, dropping down so that I could sweep my leg and knock her off balance. She fell, but sprung up almost instantly before I could capitalize on her.

"Who carries all the stuff you guys find in dungeons, for hours while you guys run around?"

I ducked a kick of hers and then swept my foot again to knock her off balance. She fell once more but rolled to avoid me trying to pounce on her again. She came up quickly enough to block my next swipe. I had to admit she had a point. While Elan talking about running x amount of miles with a heavy pack full of rocks was scary to listen to, when you thought about it, Recette did exactly the same thing; almost every day. Running around with a pack full of merchandise in a dungeon. Two months to learn basic enough moves to survive, but her endurance came from herself.

Recette began stabbing out quickly, trying to drive me back. She was faster than Elan, but nowhere near as strong. Still, she was not that far off from me in speed... slower yes, but faster than Louie. Again; not as strong though. She had okay balance. If I wanted to knock her out, I could...but could the average monster or boss?

I knocked her with the flat of my blade on her wrist and she dropped her weapon, but her other hand snapped up and caught it as she backed up. She sidestepped my next attack and rushed in to shoulder me in the gut. It winded me for a bit, but Recette was swinging around her foot, so I ducked and swept my leg again at her, making her lose her footing once more. This time her roll was not as quick, so she was not fully up and around when I swung at her, and she staggered sideways. I made the mistake of continuing to attack the same side however, as since one foot was hopping on the ground, the other one in the air managed to kick me pretty hard. I took a few steps back, nursing a few lower ribs.

"OW! That hurt damnit!"

I swung at her with more speed now, determined to test this theory of mine. I did not have the punch most bosses did. They were usually slow but had a powerful hit. Could Recette handle getting hit once by them? I decided to test this by scoring multiple hits on her with the blunt of my weapon, trying to make the cumulative effect I wanted. Recette slowed up some, but she bore the onslaught reasonably well. Not how I wanted, but I reminded myself as I struck out another hit with the butt of my blade that the girl was unable to block...she only had to survive.

Recette took advantage of my distracted state and swung around, slamming her foot into me with a sweep kick that made me see a few extra stars. Yeeeowuch! Where did that come from? I had always managed to duck those kind of kicks from her, and now I knew I had to make that a priory! They HURT LIKE HELL!"

"YEOW! Tryina kill me?"

Instantly Recette stopped and was by me with some ointment, all fighting and stance forgotten as she worried away at it's lid. I was reminded of the time we first met. She had offered me ointment at that time too...I grimaced and waved it away, and not a moment too soon either, for I heard a chuckle. Recette's head snapped up and I heard her call out a pleasant greeting to Griff. Oi. It was the demon. He seemed amused, and there was no genius around that needed to tell me why. He had probably watched the whole thing. I watched Recette wince as she continued to hold me up. I found that my sympathy was rather less than it should be though, seeing as my side was still throbbing.

"Lovely night for a spar...though forgive me, I did not know you had trouble defeating a mere shopkeeper Charme."

I fixed him with a look that clearly said; "Shut up."...one that would make most people back off from me in fear of losing an eye, but then I remembered this was a demon I was looking at, and too him, he just found the look even more amusing. I swear I have hardly ever seen the demon this amused. Recette though, was as chipper as ever.

"Oh, Hi Griff! Charme was just helping me practice!"

Griff's expression clouded some at this statement, and I narrowed my eyes at his stormier expression. Was that...concern on his face? His voice dropped the amused air and returned to it's colder drawl when he addressed her, and my suspicion hardened into certainty. The demon was _worried _about her! Ha!

Oh it was rich.

I sobered somewhat as Griff spoke though, because I had to admit...I wasn't happy about this plan either when I heard about it. That was kinda' the key reason we were here after all...I watched his red eyes flash.

"Practice? Is my service as an adventurer unsatisfactory to you? Are you planning to go and run in dungeons alone? Merchant and adventurer rolled into one? What manner of foolishness is this...?"

Recette's smile faltered some, but she hitched it up almost instantly.

"Oh no Griff, I just want to be...prepared. If one of you guys collapse near a boss, I have to get out of the barrier to bring you in it, and the boss or other monsters might decide they want to fight me instead!"

Griff huffed at this, but continued to pry. He picked another point to stab at.

"This had never occurred to you before. Or I should say you have never had this problem before. Why anticipate it now?"

Recette met his red, almost glowing eyes with her own deep chocolate ones...the red in his made hers reflect in a peculiar way... She blinked however, and the moment was lost. She looked up at the moon before answering him, as if she were weighing her answer.

"For one adventurer; yes. I can usually just run up to them in the barrier and collect. But doing that with more than one would take too much time. By the time I got to the others to help while dragging an injured around...the monsters could have finished them off."

Griff focused more intently on her now, and Recette shrunk some in his gaze. He then swung his eyes on me. I didn't allow his stare to cow me tho'. He clearly wanted to say something else to Recette, but instead seemed to think better and addressed me.

"...and you were doing what exactly? Sticking her with that bread knife?"

Bread knife?! I'll show him a bread knife...

"A boss hits hard. I wanted to try and see if she could take it."

His eyes glinted with some amusement as his own claws seem to darken and swirl. I did not have a good feeling about where this was going...Instinctively, I took a step back.

"So, you hoped to have a cumulative effect by drizzling her with smaller hits? Nonsense...if you want to see if she can survive, you have to do it properly..."

Without warning, Griff swung around and knocked Recette hard with the blunt edge of his claws. The girl literally went flying into the bushes in an arc that made my breath catch. She looked like a fish as it sailed out of the water as the fisherman yanked back to reel them in. She hardly had let out a squeak, and definitely had not even attempted to try to dodge... just vanished into the brush. I watched the bush for a split second before rounding on him, growling.

"The hell do you think you're doing! You killed her! You fraggin'...arrogant..."

Griff, to his credit, looked a little abashed. He had not expected the girl to fly so...he stammered somewhat, for Charme had gotten rather uncomfortably close to his face, looking to scream bloody murder.

"D-Don't be ridiculous...the girl is not dead...I hit her with the blunt of my claws. Now I admit I did not expect her to go flying-"

I cut him off, waving away his steadily deepening abashment. My voice was still a growl as I looked around.

"Cut it, help me find her! Damn it. You realize Tear will MURDER me if I bring back Recette looking like she got hit by a truck? This is YOUR fault! Where did she land? Ooooh if I get killed I am going to haunt you for the rest of your life!"

I began casting about for some clue as to where the girl had landed and then whipped around to see Griff still standing there, dumbstruck.

"Don't just stand there; you useless berk! Help me!"

I dove into the bushes looking for a telltale splash of red anywhere. No, not blood, at least I hoped I would not see any, but her apron. Griff finally appeared next to me after what seemed like way too long, looking like he was trying, (and failing) to look bored with what he was doing. He pointed behind himself over his shoulder.

"She's over there."

I stopped mauling the set of bushes near me and pushed past him hurriedly to get to the indicated spot. Griff came up behind me, but I paid him zero mind as I looked over Recette.

Well, she wasn't dead, that much was clear from the slight steam that escaped her lips periodically. But her eyes were glazed over in the kind of way that signified no one being "home" in there. She was knocked out, and I scolded myself for almost expecting to see her eyes turn into cinnamon like spirals of brown and white any second now, like some sort of demented washing apparatus. I gently felt her face before shifting my attention to the rest of her. If I was honest, the most damage was caused by me, the blunts of my knives left some bruises on her arms from what I felt and there was a single thin cut on her cheek. Griff's hit had simply knocked the wind outta her, and her senses, but the girl would recover fine, and that cut was thin enough to leave no lasting scar.

I bent and picked her up. She was surprisingly light for a shopkeeper. Then again...

I shift Recette on my shoulder a bit as her slight weight reminds me that Recette is still very much a little kid. She's hardly a teenager. A child. Recette had built an item shop that had a fast reputation for reliability and quality. She had cultivated a mini empire and groomed it enough to afford funding five adventurers for an indeterminate time into a high class dungeon, and by funding I meant their fees, gear and essentials. Give her any item and she would be guaranteed to not only know what it was, but what it did, who could use it and how much it was worth, all with a casual, practiced glance. She could count change just as fast as a vending machine...and she had just proved she could take a few hits to defend herself if needed... all at a tender age at which I was still being pampered. Recette had done all of this under the threat of losing her home, when most children would break down and cry or run away from home...

I shifted Recette from over my shoulder into a better position in my arms and carried her form out of the bushes and into the light. It reflects off her hair and lets me see that, knocked out as she was, she lost a large portion of her charm. Her face, usually quirked in some degree of happiness, was blank, just as her eyes were dark and clear, there was no spark of awareness... even as I saw some stars reflected in them. She looked even younger than she was this way and far, far more vulnerable. Griff looked at me as I stood there with her.

"She is most likely in no fit state to survive a hit in The Crystal Nightmare."

I shot my head up to lock eyes with him. Who said anything about the Crystal Nightmare? How did he know?What kind of...I opened my mouth to retort at him, but he smiled and shook his head knowingly. He had decided to take shelter near a plaza building, so his figure was shadowy.

"Humans. Easy to bait. Far too easy to bait. I did not know, but now I do."

I shut my mouth with a snap, narrowing my eyes at his shadowed form. I suddenly felt some bile raise in me. I'd prove him wrong. I'd wipe that secret grin of his face.

"Bull. She was taking hits from me before you butt in...but I'll make you a bet if you're so sure."

"Oh?"

His face turned towards mine, allowing me to see it fully as it caught in the moonlight. He still looked amused, but more curiosity ruled his expression now.

"One month. You have never beaten me in a game of tag have you, Griff? Give me a month. I swear you'll lose a game against Recette. You lose, you have to pay Elan's tab at the bar."

His eyebrows shot up at this, and his amusement returned. He smiled knowingly at me. He knew as well as I the mountain of a tab Elan possessed. I was going to get myself in some hot water here if I was not careful...I had to play my cards right, and maybe Elan would be begging me in thanks as well as Griff pining for mercy. I liked the thought. I grinned to match him.

"Ahh? Is that so. What of if I win?"

I shifted Recette to my shoulder again and held up my GhostBlade and my brand new ring. They twinkled between the two of us.

"I sell these and you take the profit, that leaves me weaponless. I'll let you take my spot in the five man band we have for going into the Crystal Nightmare too. Sweetened Pot. Your play Griff."

His ruby like eyes glinted to match the wagers I had put up, and I saw his teeth shine in the night as he stepped forwards. He was still far to amused for me to like it. He held out his hand and I gripped it with the one whose shoulder was occupied by a certain shopkeeper.

"Consider it a deal then."

**+-~P~-+**

_I started as I shook myself from my half slumber, looking at Recette to see why she had stopped. Then I sat up straight, and a coverlet fell off me. I stared at it like it was some foreign object of which I had no idea it's function. Gradually,I managed to tear my gaze from it and look about. I spotted Recette and saw that she was on top of a stool that had been designed to look like a spotted red mushroom with beady, black eyes. The glinted with a rather spooky manner when I locked eyes with it, and I shivered. _

_She SLEPT with that THING staring at her like that? I swear the thing has a face like it's going to come over here while I sleep and...I don't know what an armless/legless mushroom can do to me as I sleep, but I don't want to wake up with that...thing... STARING over me. I reasoned it was probably bought or made by one of her parents, probably her father. _

_I guess I fell asleep, and Recette carried me over here into her bedroom. Then maybe she continued the story, or maybe she stopped it when I fell asleep and went to stare out the window, which was how she was turned...she faced the snow encrusted window as she slept...wait...she carried me? _

_I ran a hand over my face and stifled a groan. I did not want to wake the younger woman up. She had carried me up a flight of steps and I had just slept on like some five year old who fell asleep near the fireplace._

_I noticed that she had a thin blanket wrapped around herself, and that she had changed into a simple light blue night dress. It hung loosely on her as she breathed. I blinked as I recalled earler, and almost groaned again._

_I had burned the paper. God, I had burned the paper. I could have given it to her and walked out, and I would have been comfortable in my inn's bed until the morning when I would return via a called coach to give news of success to my boss and then I would take his good report and use it as leverage to prove I could be trusted to run executive duties on my father's advertisement company. I'd be more than a heir, I'd be a business woman. I would be able to do whatever I pleased...but no. I just HAD to burn the FREAKING paper._

_Even as I silently raged against myself I knew it was pointless. I could not have been that heartless. I just could not. I watched Recette breathe. _

_She's been through enough already._

_I settled myself down to sleep again, and soon the snow, peace and soft breathing lulled me back to sleep with a natural lullaby. _

_**+-~E~-+**_

_I think I forgot how to use the word "to" and "too" honestly._

_I honestly did not originally plan for Griff to come in. He just...did. So when I found myself thinking it would be nice for him to come in and show Charme up, I allowed him to do so. Griff has so few affiliates in Recettear, but since Charme and Griff both love to come into your store when it's late at night, and the atmosphere is dark...(at least form what I remember they did.) I thought it would make the most sense that they had met each other before/are familiar with one another._

_I could have updated on April 1st...only if I did, I would have only been up to the part where Charme tells Griff: "You killed her!" Which would have actually made a nice joke chapter when I came to think of it, but I decided not to. It would have been too cruel, and I have waited too long to tell this story to you all. Incidentally, the fact that Griff and his part in this story was not an original design means that to me, that part of the chapter seems less in quality to the others. It seems kinda forced, and was difficult to write...but I hope it still keeps to a generally tolerable standard._

_In other news, hello to my new + favorite for this story. I'll try to continue to provide._

_I planned for this to be a longer chapter, but in all honesty I did not feel like putting more here, though I admit, precious little happened here. Charme and Recette had a fight, Griff interrupted, blasted Recette into the sky. Charme and Griff find Recette and make a bet. I can describe 5000 words of text in three sentences. Lovely. *Rolls eyes*I find the more I edit a document, the less happy I am with it. I hardly edited last chapter at all, this one I mutilated... However, I did get that hint in there. I wonder if anyone will catch it?_

_Those who do, will you know what it means?_

_Promising more next time.~Finalage._


	11. Evolution

_This chapter has "book end" author notes again. *Sigh*_

_Last Chapter was a study in the abuse of the letter and word, "I". Enough said about that. It does not seem to have been worth anyone reviewing either. Ehh. =S. _

_Unsure if I already said this before but...one thing I dislike is when an author learns a new word and then decides instantly the way to remember it is to make one of their characters discover it, and then use it...all...the...time. Bonus points if this is done for one full chapter and then...THE WORD IS NEVER SEEN AGAIN. It's like it fell of the earth and vanished. Poof. _

_Why am I talking about this? No, it's not because I learned a new word myself. (Though I DID learn an interesting one yesterday, but it has no relevance to this story so unless asked or made relevant I won't bother with it in story...my point is that these authors do this without regard for the Character's temperament. They will bend the character's personality to suit the word of the day. It doesn't sit well with me. All well and good when you can make it work without compromising the character's integrity but...guys come on. XD I myself had to go back last chapter several times because I found Recette was speaking a little too fluently and with far too much vocabulary for her character. Recette, a person who occasionally slips into what is called "Buffy Speak" is not supposed to sound like an English professor...(Not that I am one, though I admit I can sound like one quite a bit...T-T.)_

_In other news, I passed both my re-certification tests recently for some licenses I own. So that's fun. Motivated me to write some more on this._

_The part where Charme is thinking and deliberating with herself as she walked home was originally planned for last chapter but...I just decided not to put it there. So now it's here._

_Anywho, enough of that twaddle. I don't own Recettear. I never have, seriously doubt I ever will._

_**+~Lemongrass Stains: Recette's Annual.**_

_**+~Chapter Ten:**** Evolution.**_

_I awoke with a start in complete silence. No wind was blowing, no snow falling, no soft breathing to measure the time by. Just quiet sunlight streaming through the window. I sat up in bed and surveyed the room I was in. It took me a few seconds to remember this was not my hotel one. Though why had I expected to hear breathing my hotel room gave me pause for a bit before I remembered Recette. _

_The coverlet fell off me as I moved to leave the bed, and I noticed that my boots had obviously been removed from my feet. I paid this no mind until I noticed that I was in different clothes too. This gave me pause. She had dressed me up like a doll too? What did she..._

_I did not let my mind wander that far. My own clothes were folded neatly near the bedhead, and I took them dutifully. They had been washed. The smell was different than what I was used to. Not extravagantly perfumed or warm, but cooler and clean. Whatever manner of soap she had used was obviously not as lavish as I was used, but it had it's own charm, if a more impersonal one. I pulled off what I was wearing and dressed, taking care to stay out of what I gauged to be the line of sight of that mushroom. _

_It was still far too creepy for my tastes, and to let it watch me change was not an option...even if it had no life to watch me...as far as I knew. I chanced a glance out the window. The sun was out, but it was a watery one, wavering in the smog-like air. The snow completely blanketed the ground, covering all the harsh looks of the dilapidated street. _

_...with enough snow, all the land would look the same, the rich and the poor. _

_With this thought in mind, I walked out the room and into a hallway. I tried the first door I saw. _

_It opened into a kitchen area, and the first thing I did was bang my head against a low hanging pot. I stepped back and rubbed my head, wincing and biting back any complaints. A brown mop of hair whipped around at the sound, pony tail swishing. It was Recette, and her mahogany eyes settled on me with a half smile._

"_Please mind your head. It's pretty valuable to you."_

_No kidding. I continued to rub it to try and lessen the pain, glaring at the pot my impact had sent swinging. It reflected the light in the kitchen dully. Recette indicated a seat at the table she was situated at, and I slid dutifully into it. There was already a plate there. Her ability to anticipate a person's want and needs was uncanny, I admit, though I would rather clean my mouth first to be honest..._

_I idly wonder why she never married, or had she? She tilted her head to the side, looking at me, and I was pretty sure she knew what I was thinking. I almost hated her for it. Almost. She pointed to the door I had just come from._

"_If you want to freshen up, the bathroom is at the end of the hall. Perhaps not the standard you are used to, but this is, after all, a condemned house. The water runs yes,but I use candles for light, as always. I set a coal fire in a pot in there, so it's warm at least."_

_Always knowing my needs. I noticed the food was hot, form the steam coming out of it. It must have been taken out recently, but Recette was up a long time ago, this I got from some cold tea by her, which was more or less untouched as she returned her sights to the window she had been looking out of. A book was in front of her, but my curiosity was not urgent enough for me to sneak a peek as I got up for the bathroom..._

_A bit later had me sitting at the Kitchen table again. Recette was once again opposite me, her book was now face down, but still open, sot that it splayed itself against the wood of the table, showing off it's green cloth cover, and from the supple way it could bend, I guessed it was bound in leather. It title was in some language I could not put my finger upon, I suppose it was an arcane book..._

_Well, Recette had shown she could shoot ice from her hands..._

_She cleared her throat, and I looked up to see her watching me. He head was still slightly tilted tot he side. I blinked. She was wearing an attire similar to what I guessed was her old shopkeeper's dress, but obviously a larger size. However, her belt still had a sheath looped through it, though it was empty again. I noticed for the first time that there was also a knife one. _

_Also, now that I think of it, even when there was only one sheath, the blade had looked lonely in there..._

_Recette smiled. I was sure she knew what I was thinking again._

"_Last I left the story, at least before you fell asleep, we were about to enter the Crystal Nightmare, but I can take a guess you don't remember that far. Do you?"_

_I shook my head. I only remembered when she told me about Charme finding her after Griff had knocked her out. She looked out the window._

"_Well then...I guess we have some catching up to do...maybe I can tell the story better this time."_

_I looked out the window to the street below too, and as she began, the snow melted away, and night fell, and a certain shop's lights winked on to reflect off a cheery sign..._

**+~-1-~+**

I walked back carrying Recette in silence. Griff had left me at the plaza, muttering something about who knows what. The night was still clear, still quiet and still moon-bright, but I was ignoring it. I was instead thinking about the girl I was carrying, and my bet. I smiled secretly to myself. It could work. Recette hardly ever dodged anything...but that was simply because of the way she had been taught. Elan had taught her nothing but the basic martial arts. She only knew one type of charge, and only ducked or sidestepped out of instinct...or to initiate the one charge she knew.

Her balance was good, credit to Elan. Recette though, was a little girl. She was not built like Elan, and thus could not use his style effectively. Nagi somehow managed to tank hits too, but her style was still different and also not right for Recette. Then there was Tielle. It was an attractive option, but in the end, not good for what Recette wanted. Recette wanted to save people in danger. She wanted to rush in, make a grab and get out.

Sure, taking a hit and continuing on would help there...but what she needed was to work on being like me. My grin widened at the irony. It was wise of Recette to keep this from Tear. I even suspected the reason Recette wanted to show me she could fight was for this very reason...only Griff messed up the night.

Recette wanted me, not only to not think she was crazy...but as her next teacher.

Recette had good natural speed, I could see that already, but she needed to be taught. Direct it right. More than once I had performed a leg sweep, and Recette had done absolutely nothing to stop me. A simple jump could have saved her. A few evasive maneuvers could have stopped me from pummeling her with my blade.

She had strong legs, running around all over the town/dungeons and Elan's training probably did that. So use 'um for something besides side kicking. Monsters and people were not trees. We can duck, bob, weave and dive, jump and run. I knew with a little training, Recette would prove too slippery for Griff to snatch. Her instincts were good enough, and Elan had set most of the ground work for me.

I let my grin deteriorate into a smirk. Ironic that in wanting to save adventurers, Recette would slowly be turned into a pretty good one herself. She had probably told Elan her plan too, which is why Elan had only limited her training to teaching one type of charge and kick. She was a unit made for rushing in, a charge would prove useful, but not much other attack.

I too, decided to limit what I taught her attack wise. I would stick to working on her speed and dodge abilities. Made no sense to teach Recette how to strike when it would only take away from the time we already had so little of...

I found myself in front of a dark, locked shop not to much later, and once more my face split into a grin. Heeey~ It's locked. So does that mean I can, yah know... "Take her home with me" now? My grin threatened to become face splitting now. Oh I was rich...and somewhat evil. I decided to mess with Tear's head and left a note wedged in the door handle. Let the fairy read it, maybe she's drop so low she would hit the ground.

Laughing to myself, I hitched Recette a little higher. Well. First stop was an inn. I was sure the shopkeeper would pay me back if I rented two rooms, but I felt like messing with heads, so I decided to order only one.

Let's see how innocent her mind really was when she woke up in my bed. Oh it was _such_ a rich thought.

I laughed all the way to the inn. Quietly.

A shadow stole over the shop from a single cloud, and the wind tickled the note on the door as Charme vanished from sight.

…

Tear awoke to a quiet house. Well she expected as much. After waiting for Recette for a good amount of time, she had decided to enforce her decision to lock the door, but she had taken post by the door, just so she could watch Recette out of sight and see how she acted when she encountered it. However, the stresses of the day had tolled on her more than she gave them credit for, and soon Tear found herself sleeping on top of a hat, one of the stared, green "Warm Hat" models. It was downy and soft, perfect for a bed...she shot up in alarm once she realized she had been sleeping on it. It was merchandise for Pete's sake!

Sleeping on the merchandise...what had gotten into her...it was then that she realized that she had slept the entire night...and thus had ACTUALLY left Recette outside to fend for herself. She felt like slapping herself. Merde!

She rose into the air and beat a fast track to the door, which she unlocked with little difficulty, but found near impossible to open. Hey, she was a fairy, this was a door. Kinda hard to open it you know? She had a size disadvantage.

Once open she zoomed past it with momentum and looked about the street. No sleeping Recette, but what girl would sleep in the open like this anyway? Recette maybe, but Tear had to admit Recette was smarter than given credit for. The plaza?

She zoomed on not just her own wings but the wings the wind had lent her to get there in record time. No Recette slept on or under any plaza benches. It struck Tear that perhaps Recette had woken up and had taken another route home, and was even now walking into the shop...hopefully.

She pair zero mind to the people she nearly crashed into as she flew back to the shop, speeding way past her speed limit as she beat away thoughts of the one time Recette and her had gone out and, upon hearing a noise, she had yelled " A HOODLUMS GONNA STEAL MY CUTNESS!" Tear tried very, very hard not to think about what else would have been stolen from Recette if a hoodlum got her, not the least of which being her life. She almost crashed into the door in her haste.

The shop window however, was not so lucky. Tear smacked on it like an errant fly to a windshield, and she bounced off to land on the ground rather painfully. Mewling and rubbing her head, she looked up at the shop and realized with horror that she had left not only unlocked, but with the door closed, which meant it would be nearly impossible, scratch that, **impossible** to get back in. It was easier to push things than pull them...and Tear did not have the strength to open this door.

Her eyes bugged as she flew back up with haste to check inside. As far as she could see, no one was in there, and nothing looked missing...but how long would that last? Thoughts of stolen merchandise made her lose more than a few wingspans in height, especially when the monetary loss was factored in.

She flew so low that her feet touched the door handle. It was uncomfortable to sit on, as she was not exactly small as that, but she had no other semi-guard-able or decent spot. So she flitted there. It was then that she noticed the note. With a sinking feeling about ransom money, she tugged it out.

"Hey Tear. Remember the bar? I found her asleep, sooo~ I took her home with me. Not sure if you'll get her back undamaged~, but that's okay right?~ Charme."

Tear stared at the note. Then she stared at it some more. She could not stop staring at it. Then she felt herself tilt sideways and she fell off the door handle, still holding the note. When she hit the ground she was still holding it too. Still staring, as if the note had petrified her.

Her brain had shut down. For it's own safety. Anyone looking at Recettear instantly knew, from the frozen fairy, that now was not the best time to go shopping...and it was such a pity too...no one bothered to pick her up.

**+~-2-~+**

Charme smiled as she saw Recette stir. She had purposely placed herself on the bed as well and waited as the brunette's eyes opened and stared at her. Any time now the fireworks would start...

...except they didn't.

Recette looked momentarily confused as she stared at Charme, then her eyes swept the inn room. She had never been in an inn before, but she knew this must be one. She focused back on Charme before sitting up in bed. She was in some borrowed night clothes. Rubbing her eyes a bit, she woke up fully and addressed Charme with a chipper as ever greeting.

"G'morning Charme! Is this your inn room?"

Slightly disappointed at the lack of reaction, Charme decided to press the attack a little.

"Yes it is. We've been here all night...in the same bed."

Recette however, did not seem to find anything wrong with this at all. Instead she simply blinked and looked about at the edge of the bed for anything to cover her feet with.

"Oh? I'm sorry, I took up your bed!"

Locating her own shoes, Recette hopped off the bed and walked socked feet over to them. Charme was at this point a bit put off. She decided however, to just push a little harder. Adopting a leery face, she said rather off-hand.

"Last night was very nice."

Recette however, did not pick up on the tone or the face. She looked slightly confused before she settled for a smile.

"Oh yes, it was, a nice moon and hardly any breeze, it was a nice night for a spar...but I wanted to talk about that actually."

Recette's smile was usually infectious, but at this moment, Charme's smile dropped. Was she really so dense? Or did she not know? Horror replaced her confusion. Recette...didn't have a mom around did she? ...Or a Dad...how much had Recette actually been taught before they left?

Oh god no...if she had been replaced by any old hoodlum guy and Tear had not been there that night when she had said "I want to take you home with me." How would Recette have responded? Would she have even KNOWN the implications it could have meant?

Charme paled a little, but she hitched a smile on her face, because Recette was looking at her with concern. It had never occurred to her that Recette would simply be so innocent she was unaware of any connotations. She decided to try one last time, and this time there was little amusement in it.

"Charme, what's wrong?"

"Recette, are you aware what usually happens when someone looks at you that certain leery way and says you've "spent the night" with them? Do you even know what it might mean for some people to say they "slept" with you?"

She put heavy irony on those phrases, and Recette looked at her oddly.

"Err...we slept in the same bed? I mean...there's nothing wrong with that really. I mean, I slept with Tielle when she was recovering because I only had one bed, though I guess it would have been dangerous if she woke up in the middle of the night because she hardly knew me and last time she saw me she attacked me but...ehh...why?"

Charme slapped a hand to her forehead, hard. Her own hit made her see stars, and she fell back on the bed with a groan. God. She did not know. So much for trying to embarrass the girl by implicating something and then enjoying the redness before informing her she had a dirty mind and that no such thing had happened...Recette couldn't have a dirty mind because she just did not know.

She was again struck by how young the shopkeeper was as she rushed to her side and yelped, asking if she was okay. Charme grumbled an affirmative. This was going to be one long morning...

"Recette...I need to teach you something."

"Oh, yes, that's what I wanted to talk about! I want to learn a bit more about how to dodge properly you see-"

"No, not about that. I guessed you wanted to fight me yesterday for that reason...but this is something else. Have a seat. This will take a while."

Recette sat on the corner of the bed, keeping a polite smile. Charme almost did not have the heart to break that innocence. However...if she continued to shower Louie with hints that she liked him, Louie would get the wrong...or right...idea. Recette would be unaware how to proceed and that could spawn a whole host of problems...

Best break it to her nice and simple.

"Recette, have you ever heard about...the bees and the mushrooms?"

...

By the souls of deceased sprites; where _were_ they?

Tear had managed to finally recover form her stupor about mid morning. She then proceeded to rip apart the offending note into tiny, tiny pieces, taking her time to make sure it was nigh unto dust before flying about and tossing them in a sheer vortex of her frustration. She could not enter the shop, and no one seemed willing to come closer to the agitated fairy to help. So Tear "paced" back and forth by the shop door, her wings flapping unnecessarily fiercely all the while, making her back and forth trip more like a defibrillators graph. If Charme had so much as ruffled Recette's hair in a lewd way, she would burn the thief within an inch of her life.

"Uhm...Tear? Teeeear~"

What kind of villain took a sleeping girl and carried her home to do such...things?! Ooooh when she got her hands on her! Tear continued her progress back and forth, paying no mind to the two people who were watching her progress as they waited right in front of her. Not even as one of them struggled to get her attention. Tear just kept right on muttering as she flew by Recette's hands.

"Teeeeear~..."

Tear suddenly let her vehemence burst out, no longer able to simply mutter. Recette almost fell flat on her behind from the sudden outburst of sound, but Charme grabbed her.

"I'll take her and stuff her into a GRAMOPHONE and see if she plays! I'll string her by her ankles and use her toes as a knife sharpener!"

Recette turned to Charme, looking fearful at this outburst.

"Maybe I should hide...she's really mad at me! I don't wanna hang by my ankles...and I don't think I'll fit in a Gramophone!"

Charme smirked at the image, then put a hand on the girl's shoulder to try and comfort her.

"I think she means me."

"...But I don't want you to hang by your ankles either!"

Charme bit back a laugh at the face Recette was making. If anything, it would be Tear who would be the one hanging by her ankles, and she would be used as a salt shaker. She grinned again at this new image. Tear continued to pay them zero mind.

"I'll tie her to a counter, gag her and then let water drip on her forehead for weeks!(*1) I'll rip her limbs off and then ROAST them and feed them to pigs! I'll..I'll...charge her double price on all store items!"

Recette could almost feel a bead of sweat drip down from her head at that moment.

"**T*E*A*R!**"

Tear whipped around and looked at Recette with exasperation.

"What is it Recette? I am trying to think about a suitable punishment for Charme when she brings you back from wherever she took you!"

Recette almost fell down at the irony of that statement; Charme actually did. She rolled about on the floor laughing fit to crack a few ribs as Tear turned around AGAIN and began to mutter. She had not even realized...Recette however, did not find the humor in this...

"Charme...I think you broke her..."

Barely able to breathe, she answered the girl.

"Broke her? I fixed her for you! Oh this is perfect!"

Recette sighed, looking between the laughing and rolling Charme and the muttering, erratically flying fairy and decided that Recettear would remain closed for today. She pulled out her book and checked it. Yes. It would remain closed. She had no orders today...and she wanted to practice some of the stances and moves Charme had shown her this morning.

…_**One week later**_

Charme jumped up and landed on the plaza bench, landing there only long enough to get a springboard off it so that her silhouette was framed by the moon. Recette narrowed her eyes as Charme threw five knives, none save one of which Recette could see. Recette side stepped one of them as they fell and then heard the tell tale whistle of another coming in the air. She jumped back and watched as one thudded where she had been. Her own blade came out almost un-bidden, perhaps only half-bidden, to deflect another one, but she felt two of the blunt wood knives slam into her middle, winding her.

"No good Recette, you had to block one and two got you. Nice work on the two you dodged though. Again. Ready? Okay!"

Again Charme jumped, and this time threw six walnut shells. They had slime in them. Washable yes, but still slime. Recette still could not see any one of them...she jumped back from where she guessed one would land and stepped to the side to avoid another one she heard coming. She jumped a bit when it exploded, but no paint got her from that one. No, it was the two that hit her in the head and chest that knocked her sprawling and in the flight path of a third, which, despite her effort to make her blade a shield; shattered on her cheek, drenching her face in the green stuff. She winced and sat up, spitting slime from her mouth.

Yuck.

Charme sighed, her hand coming up to massage the bridge of her nose. Not quite what she had hoped for...She watched Recette pull a handkerchief from one of her pockets and wipe her face. Sighing again, Charme walked towards her.

"It's no good deflecting them Recette, dodge. This is not a game of block, it's avoidance. Dodge. Blocking will only help with the small fry, and most of us can handle small fry. We'll need your help at the boss, and the boss you have to dodge. So dodge!"

Recette made no comment, but got up from her seat on the floor and dusted herself off, assuming a ready stance again. Charme appraised it with a critical eye before sighing again.

"That's it for today Recette, we'll continue it tomorrow..."

_**+~-3-~+**_

_Recette had stopped talking, and I shook myself slightly to rid myself of the image of the past her picking herself up off a cobblestone street to watch the current model. Her own tea was still sitting by her, dejected and cold, un-touched. She was watching outside, and I decided to direct my attention to it as well. _

_Someone was trudging through the snow. A someone I found eerily familiar, especially since I had just been hearing about him in Recette's own story. I noticed that the sky was darkening, going into the late noons, and I wondered again about how time seemed to fly when these stories were told to me...but that was not the important thought. The important thought was that it was darkening outside, and so were the clouds. Was it about to snow again?_

_No! That was not the important part either! The important part was the person trudging through the snow with his attire standing stark contrast with the white ground and his dark hair flying free in the breeze. Recette stood up as I saw the sun reflect off a pair of glasses that held house to glowing pinpricks I assumed were his eyes._

_Red eyes..._

_It could only be Griff who stalked here...Griff the demon come to call. Recette pushed her chair back into the table and strode out the room. I hastened to follow her. Her stride was much quicker than mine, and my mind drifted back to her training with Charme. I saw her pull a coat from a tack on the wall by the beginning of the staircase, and watched her pull it on smoothly, it's richly brown material an almost mirror to her hair, but with a bit too much red...like her eyes. I fingered my own as I tried to keep up with her. _

_Recette leapt the last few steps, landing with her arms half extended to keep balance, like a bird using their wings to land lightly on a tree branch. She did not break stride, and I came into sight of the first floor just into time to see Recette vault her own counter with a casual hand, again landing lightly and weaving between her empty displays. I myself was ingrained with to much mannerism to do something so flamboyant as that...or perhaps, a tiny voice in my had sniggered, I was in no shape to do it. I walked around and rushed after her and into the snow._

_It hit my legs with it's cold immediately, and I winced at the biting air. I was fully bundled, having closed the coat I had lazily put over my shoulders to keep it in sight, and my hat was on my head...the only thing I did not have on was my scarf, which was quickly taken out of the pocket I had stuffed it in and wrapped around my neck. It was freezing out here. _

_Yet still, despite all my bundling, Recette stood in simple boots whose height was probably not equal to this snow fall, and a light dress under an apron, with a loose overcoat over it all of that rich color, and she looked hardly out of place. I hurried closer to see Recette meet Griff half way._

_It was certainly a demon. I had seen them before on occasion, and from the description I was certain it was he. His eyes briefly rested upon me before directing his attention to Recette, but the young woman beat him to the punch._

"_Griff. I did not expect to see you here..."_

_His voice was richly deep and melodic, but there was a sadness in it I could not place. It was not in his expression, certainly. That was furrowed into annoyance and exasperation. _

"_You should dress more properly. You humans are always so fickle with your sicknesses. I wonder why I even bother with your race half of the time..."_

"_I'll live."_

_Griff simply huffed at that statement, then cast another look in my direction. His look was quail worthy. I felt any thought of speech die in my throat. Recette followed his gaze._

"_Oh, you look cold there. You should head inside, it's warmer in there. You're not wearing gloves."_

_Pot calling kettle's bottom black. She was not wearing a hat, scarf, gloves OR proper boots. Yet I could not suppress a shiver that chose that moment to wrack my body, violently. She looked at me with some pity. I shivered again. I was curious as to what they were meeting out here for, but the cold was biting me, and now the demon had joined in on the stare contest. Recette spoke again._

"_Please, don't get sick on y account, I'll only be out here a little while, then I'll come in again."_

_Admitting defeat, I sighed and turned about to walk back into the shop, or what was formerly a shop. I felt the temperature change immediately as I walked in. My body shook all over one final time, violently, as if shaking off the cold, before it settled down to just being stiffly cold at my core. I pounded my boots on the carpet by the front door to rid them of clinging snow, and then walked some distance before turning around a leaning against a counter. If I could not hear, my curiosity would at least make me watch._

_Recette seemed to be politely discussing something with him, their faces betrayed nothing. On the opposite side of the street, for the first time, I saw a door besides Recette's open, and a wizened old head peek out. The old man was wrapped in several rags form head to toe as he stepped out, and his hand made to cover the eviction notice on his building as he closed the door behind him. I felt a stab of guilt at his momentary pause, but he shook it off and walked towards the two in the middle of the street,but he did not stop to chat with them save to say what I assume was goodbye. _

_He had an eaten pack on his back, and he seemed to give a half sad smile as he departed in his shuffling gait through the snow. Recette turned back to Griff to speak and her expression was just a slight bit more stormy, which was my final clue to the thought that that man...was not coming back. Another stab of guilt. I walked away and back up the steps, and took my seat by the table to wait, opening my coat again as I warmed up some. _

_As promised, Recette came back up only a few minutes later, tossing her coat on the table between us and starting work on the stove for what I assumed was a soup. It smelled like that after a while. She set down a bowl of the stuff in front of me and then took her own and played with it a bit before swirling some noodles on a fork and placing it in her mouth._

_I find it odd that this is actually the first time I've seen her consume something. Oh I've seen her hold empty plates or cups, or half used ones like that cold tea she had recently whisked off the counter before starting her soup, but I had never actually seen her put things in her mouth and swallow. It made her more real in a way, like the final confirmation that I was not talking to some sad apparition or something. It was stupid I know, after all, what ghost could cook for you and leave her haunting area but still, it released some tension for me. I was dealing with a human. She cleared her throat after taking another sip of her soup._

"_Well, I guess you'd like me to continue?"_

_I pointed out I she should probably finish her meal first, and she grinned._

"_Now you're looking out for me hmm? So far it's been the opposite way around."_

_She took another spoon full of broth and sipped at it. Then she gave a half smile and pushed it away closer to me. I looked at her oddly. I was not going to eat her soup and mine too...what was I, a trash bin? I was not big! Just...warmer than she was._

"_However, my conversation with an old friend has not put me in much of an eating mood. No, I don't want you to finish it. I'm just making room..."_

_For what became apparent when she put her arms on the table and folded them, letting her head plop on them in a fashion similar to what I used to do when I was bored with my tutor at home. She tilted her head to rest on her left arm rather than her right one, freeing her mouth. _

"_So. I left you after my first week of training with Charme, didn't I?"_

_Before I let her continue I asked her if that person I saw was Griff. She smiled half-hardheartedly at me, which was answer enough as her voice again floated in that way it does, and took me back to the past._

_**+~-4-~+**_

Two weeks. He had two weeks left.

Louie let out a captive breath as he watched Recette zoom by him on some shop errand or another, and detached himself from the side of a building he had zipped behind when he saw her approach. He uncomfortably fingered his belted sword with an absentminded air.

Frustrated with himself, he took a deep breath and let it out in a blast of wind, then looked up at the blue sky. Not a cloud. Not. A. Cloud. He smoothed his hair with a nervous gesture, which was useless because all it did was spring back up again. He ran a hand through it again. It sprung right back up.

Giving up, he cast his eyes about the plaza square, looking for something to occupy himself with. He saw Elan, but it was too early to drink at the bar for his tastes, and Louie had been avoiding the bar anyway recently. He had built up a nice safety net from this he found. He had even started to pay back his tab a little.

There. That was the problem. He was no longer perpetually poor. He no longer had that "seedy" look that made people doubt him when it came to hiring for adventuring. In fact, people swarmed for him. His gear shone with care and honor, and so did his clothes. He looked rather good for an adventurer now...and that all came from the same merchant who had just zipped by him, the one he was avoiding.

Why?

To be honest, he did not really know why he was avoiding Recette. Maybe it was because of the gear he was barely getting used to by now, the dress of war that she had so casually given to him, as she always had. As her first adventurer, she seemed to think she was obligated to take good care of him.

Sure, she took care of all the others, but Louie was sure that she did not discount their prices quite as much as she did with him. Maybe Elan might get similar treatment due to his own wallet problems...maybe Tielle due to their strong friendship...but probably not. Definitely not Calliou. Griff paid just as much as any other customer Louie was sure, and Charme too. Nagi he was sure paid more or less normal price too. Arma he was not sure.

...Yet. Louie was sure he did not deserve this. Not just the gear, but the treatment. Louie was, and had always been, a street guy who liked his beer and dreamed of being an adventurer, and hardly ever succeeding. He earned money, saw something he wanted, bought it on the spur of the moment then found he did not have enough money to buy what he needed. Cycle repeats. He could never earn enough to build a safety net because he never could spend enough to get decent enough gear to get strong enough to earn enough to make that safety net so that he would not spend too much on stupid stuff.

Not only that, but he new, more profitable prospects made him the item of new attention, attention he had always wanted but now felt unwelcome. Louie was about seventeen, and like almost any teen, he liked attention from whatever orientation they found favorable, in his case, he liked the attention of girls...but...

It bothered him. They never noticed him before. He, Louie, who had always been looked down as being kinda dumb, kinda dim, knew enough to know that this attention he was getting was not quite kosher.(*2) Not quite right. They were not really after him. They were after his new clothes, his sparkling promise of money, or his better build, as adventuring while being fed a much better diet did provide him with the benefit of a healthier body...which led him back to Recette.

She was younger than him. Not by much granted, but at his age, it mattered. She also showed signs that she might maybe be starting to see him in that same light these other girls were too. It worried him. Recette was a nice girl yes.

He was sure her thoughts were not the same as those other girls too. Since, yah' know; she was the main cause of his current success and she had far more monetary ability than he doubted he ever would, but also because he did not think Recette could even think that way. That in lied the problem.

Recette, if she did like him was far too good for him to even try to think of liking her back. She was indeed that angel he had thought her the first day he met her...and despite his thoughts of being a world class adventurer with some "babe" wooing after him...he doubted he deserved that "babe" to be Recette. It was too shallow a thought, and even HE knew it was shallow.

Recette was still a girl, not that he was a man but...he was nearer to the title than she was to woman, work with him here and stroke his ego a bit to prove his point damn it! Still...the way her eyes had looked in that firelight when she had spoken to them about going into the Crystal Nightmare...and she was letting her hair grow out he saw...she had changed it to a single ponytail, not a kiddie one either but a thin one that flew back regally...he ripped his thoughts form that line of thought. He had no doubt she would not fit the usual mode of woman here in Pensee as she grew up.

She, they almost all looked the same. Same brown hair and brown eyes like their daughters and same homespun dress, but despite sharing these same qualities of hair and eyes, Recette wore them differently. He was certain she'd turn out quite different from the usual drab...but again his mind was off topic!

Oh hell, enough of this!

Louie walked to the center of the plaza and drew his sparkling sword with a quick movement, and then took a ready pose. He slashed out at an imaginary enemy and swung out his shield to block another ones' imaginary throw. He sidestepped a charge and swung out his blade to slice a kobold in half and then spun on the spot, releasing his pent up frustration in a full circle slash tinged red with mana.

He swung his blade up to slice at a bee and ran forwards to jump up ad slice down upon a slime. He backpedaled to avoid a roper and managed to slice it in half, and then blocked a slash from Charme, bearing down in on her to slice at her middle. She danced away and struck at his other side. He side stepped and swung at her head. She ducked and tried to trip him up, but he jumped and slashed viciously downwards. She fell and turned into a roper, which tried to grab him, but he strafed to the side and then slashed at it, cutting it in half. He swung in a circle as slimes surrounded him and he rushed forward to meet Charme again, who dropped a pack full of items and swung out her dagger to block mine as she danced away backwards.

Wait...what?

I blinked and then paled. I had attacked Recette! Oh shit!

I pulled an embarrassed face sheathed my blade, rubbing the back of my head.

"Oh! Recette. Yo...uhh...sorry there, I was practicing and I kinda was in the moment, I didn't really see you."

I looked down and saw that Recette had actually had a blade, which was not on the floor, as Recette was nursing her left hand in her other. Oh crap, did I actually hit her? My eyes widened as I stammered.

"Uhh...oh damn, did I actually get you Recette? I'm sorry, I'll pay for that..uhh, not that your had has a set price...I mean! No I don't mean hand in marriage...ahh why did I say that aww crap I-I'm sorry I...uhh..Recette? Why are you smiling so much?"

It was true, she looked like she was holding back some laughter as she smiled and waited for me to talk myself into silence. I spluttered down into a more calm state as she showed me her hand had no injury.

"It's okay Louie, your slash just ripped it from my hand is all, and it hurts, but I'm not cut or anything. I got away in time.

...and she had gotten away in time in a hell of a professional way too now that I think of it. Who had taught her that? I pointed to the blade to look for something to say.

"Been taking lessons? You kinda got outta that situation pretty well..."

She tilted her head to the left, and I felt something twitch in me. God, I hate when she does that, It makes me like her more, which I am trying to avoid doing.

"Yes. I was taking Lessons from Charme actually! I'm not any good yet though...I tried to block you, but you're too strong, I should have just dodged. She keeps telling me I have to try dodging instead of trying to block if a hit is too strong, but I just instinctively try to block because I don't think I'll be fast enough..."

That was interesting. Was she planning on learning self defense to protect her shop? Actually now that I think of it, it was actually a perfectly good idea. Recette often walked around with a lot of pix and merchandise as she carted it back and forth form shop to other places, and she ran her shop with just her and Tear, and a fairy was not going to be much use if someone tried to rob her. I kicked myself for being stupid. Of COURSE Recette would want to know how to fight some.

I grinned a bit. I wondered though...and despite myself I found myself asking her.

"Would you like a spar then? It would be nice to do that instead of imagining kobolds and slimes everywhere."

She seemed to struggle with herself some before she smiled and walked to pick up her pack and then settled it back on her shoulders before picking up her blade. I pointed to the pack.

"That will slow you down a lot."

She looked up at me and seemed almost surprised before she drew off the pack and put it by her feet. Her mind seemed preoccupied for a bit before she stood straight, dagger in hand and in a stance I found familiar. It was not quite Charme's as Recette did not have the figure for it, but it echoed it. I also saw what I guessed was some basic martial arts in there. It looked kinda like Elan. I readies my blade and looked her over. Her right side was open. She had no shield and held a one handed blade. I immediately launched to her right and swung.

She jumped back quickly and hesitated. I took advantage and slashed again, but she ducked and stood to my side. She hesitated only a split second before slashing out her blade. I blocked it on my shield and then jumped back when she dropped and tried to leg sweep me. I rushed back in, but she got up quickly enough to dance away from my slash, however...

I jumped forwards and my shield hit her in the gut, along with my knee. Winded, she backed off and I took advantage to knock her blade from her. She watched it fly and land in the ground, watching it with interest. I looked at her.

"You hesitated. Why didn't you attack?"

She re-focused on me.

"Charme had been teaching me to dodge. Not attack. Elan taught me a little bit about it but Charme-"

"Bull."

She looked up at me, surprised. I continued.

"Why do you want to learn how to fight?"

Recette seemed to weigh me with her eyes before she spoke, but not before sighing and plunking down right where she stood. I followed her example and sat in the grass.

"I wanted to be able to save someone if they fell in the Crystal Nightmare. Rush in, get the out and then repeat if needed. I need to be able to dodge a boss if it comes after me, so Charme told me to forget about blocking or attacking and focus on dodging. She said I can take a hit but I should not try to."

I looked around the plaza a bit before I addressed this.

"That's all good, but what about outside the dungeon?"

"Heewah?"

"If you know how to attack and block, don't just forget about it. What happens if someone tries to rob your shop? Are you going to just dodge them? Eventually, if you do not hit back, someone is going to hit you, and if they hit you enough, you will go down. It's nice to know how to dodge yeah, but don't forget about everything else."

I watched as she fiddled with her dagger in her hands. I had a feeling she could do a lot better than what she just did if she kept what I had told her in mind. I pointed at her weapon.

"Want to try again?"

She looked at me. Then she smiled, and again I hated myself for getting into this position. That smile was poison. She stood up quickly and got into a ready position.

"Yes."

_**One week left~**_

Recette took a deep breath in and held it for a few seconds before letting it out and assuming a ready position. The sky was again clear today, which Recette counted as a blessing,since the past few days had been overcast and it had been very difficult to do Charme's training regime. True to her word, Recette had tried to stop blocking any of the projectiles in the training, but she had also not "forgotten how to block" as Louie had put it. She had adopted a routine in where a few days of the week, she met with Louie mid-day for a spar, while her nights were dominated by Charme.

It was tiring, especially since she still met Elan in the early morning, so it was not everyday, but Recette had never slept better, which was an upside even if she feared she would go deaf soon or Tear go hoarse.

Tear constantly admonished Recette, still unaware of what she did with Charme at night, but disapproving of it all the same...Recette cut off her thought train as she saw Charme on top of a plaza bench. It seemed to b her favorite spot to perch. Just yesterday Recette had managed to dodge all the knives thrown at her, but failed all the walnuts. Charme had started to throw six knives instead of five recently, which made her wonder how far this dodge training usually went...

Pushing away thoughts of monkey ninjas dodging hail storms of wooden knives, she stood ready and waiting.

"Six this time Recette. Ready? Go."

She jumped up, and Recette watched her silhouette as she threw the knives. She instantly side stepped and jumped back to avoid the closest two, twisting away to avoid a third and ducking under the forth one. She turned that duck into a dive to go under the line of a fifth knife, and sprang up in time to barely twist her body away from the last one, which went sailing by her nose, she went cross-eyed to keep it in sight.

Barely in balance, she saw Charm throw the nuts without warning or preamble, and Recette paled a bit, but showed no reaction as she jumped back and lost her balance, dodging one of the nuts as it splattered on the ground. Recette did not let herself sit there however. She let her momentum carry her, so that her backwards sprawl turned into a roll which let her avoid the splatter of two more walnut bombs. She popped up in time to dive to the side to avoid two more.

It suddenly struck Recette that since Charme had not warned her, she did not know how many of the nuts had been thrown...drat.

The last one splattered directly on her face, filling her face with the slightly glowing green. Recette, despite herself, pouted to Charme's cat like grin.

"Good. You're almost ready. Almost, but not yet. Again?"

She took out her handkerchief and wiped her face, taking care with her eyes. She shook her head violently before readying up again. She'd dodge everything that came her way...tonight.

**_+~-E-~+_**

_I suppose you might be wondering why I am putting so much emphasis on teaching Recette how to move around, dodge and take hits. Well it's obvious for some, but she'll will need it for her plans, but I also need it for mine. This is the beginning of the main conflict for this story arc really, and preparation is a key for that. This "evolution" of Recette will be in use later, don't you worry..._

_I also might point out that since it's been so very, very long since I played Recettear, my memory on most things cannon pulls up a blank when it comes to Crystal Nightmare. Since it was end game content in endless mode, I remember paying it rather small mind except to prepare for it. I spent long blocks of time crafting and stocking up my shop, and thus have been able to provide a pretty realistic prep armor of what is most likely the best set up (at least for some characters) to forge into this dungeon. I tried to keep cannon as strong as possible, but like I mentioned earlier, that cannon is coming to an end now. From this point we are breaking off, and you might see events you most likely never saw before in Crystal Nightmare, and rightfully so, since, well, you know, you could never take more than one adventurer anywhere...(Or have they updated the game so now you can?)_

_About as far as I know, I think the Nightmare rehashes some of the old bosses in multiples and stronger versions? I might do this too, but not for every boss, and definitely not in the same order...(because, frankly, I don't even know the order it DOES go in...and if I do make it so, it would be a stark wild guess based on education, not experience.)_

_By the way, as of February 12th, I had an idea for this story which completely changed it's ending, or more like pushed it farther back. I originally planned the story in such a way that would probably bring about it's ending at the 100k to 150k word mark, but now I find I'm not satisfied with that, and by the time March 14th rolled around, I had two completely different endings in my head, both different form the original, and both longer. Now, as I am typing this on the ironic date of April 16th, I have discarded one of these endings in favor of one. I may still change it, but I don't believe I will waver it much. This new storyline though has a happier ending by far, but also a longer and more torturous road. =S. It's also rather closer in plan wise to be over 200,000 words, which is a dozy. I have done that before, as I have stated but still...Yikes. By my estimate that means this can go anywhere from 200k to 500k and that would be a dang record._

_Worse, such a long convoluted story would certainly toss a few people off the already small boat, but it would also make up for the so few Recettear stories..._

_I'll flesh out the answer soon. Not sure if I'll tell you all if I do though. XD_

_It could be the monster Author notes, but this chapter is the longest yet for this story._

_Why can't I stop talking! Arrrgh. Anyway...again, Griff popped up uninvited. I did not plan him to be there. He wants something from me, I swear, but his appearance does help establish some things. _

_Notes:_

_*1: Chinese, or Spanish water torture, was a procedure in which the individual was restrained and then had water slowly, drip by drip, unto their forehead or some other part of their body, though the forehead was the most common, because it let the individual see the drop coming and anticipate it's fall, and because of the sensitivity of the skin on that part of the body. The idea was that this would slowly drive the person insane. It have been proven to be plausible in it's methods in several tests, but testing usually stopped early. (Who wanted to actually see if a person is driven insane in this modern world after all? I can almost see someone reviewing to say "FOR SCIENCE!"...) Individuals who underwent this testing usually experienced muscle spasms, claustrophobia and other issues during the tests after only a few hours, making this form of torture a probable method. No one is certain however, if the Chinese actually invented this form of torture._

_*2: I am aware, as people have pointed me out this before, that the word "kosher" is used for food prepared under certain dietary laws or is ritualistically pure, and those same people pointing out to me that the word is not being used properly by myself, however, I would like to again, point out, that this word also can be applied in slang to anything to mean "legitimate" or "authentic". I am using the word in this sense. =S_

_~ Finalage, C. F. Winchester._


	12. Slips

_This chapter has been edited._

_Tot he. It is my enemy. No matter how many times I read back to correct it to "to the" somewhere, somehow, I see "tot he" crops up. It upsets me. I notice I also screwed up with Louie. I changed points of view mid sentence in the last chapter... What was once a narrator's point of view suddenly became Louie's. I'm sorry, it must have been confusing. T-T _

_Guys look at the bottom for responses to reviews._

_So. Recette still got a face full of slime! Surprised? Don't be. It's far more realistic this way, and anyone who has looked at a few of my other stories should know I value realism of character development._

_I would say congratulations to this story, because I just realized it is second in favorite counts, but it's not much of an achievement when I think about it. Mainly because it used to be tied for second at 6, and now is second at 7...but it has little hope, if any at all to become first. Why? Well, place number two may only have needed it to get over six, but the story that is number one on my roster has SEVENTY TWO favorites. So...yeah...big gap there. =S. Still, I'm happy for Recette. _

_I do not own Recettear or any or it's affiliates!~C F Winchester. _

**_~Lemongrass Stains: Recette's Annual._**

**_Chapter Eleven: _****_Slips_**

_Breathe in...breathe out. Hold it steady. Breathe in..._

_The night was a blizzard of howling winds and biting snow. It danced about in flurries of their own volition, melodies no one but themselves could hear. It played with the edges of a buckled, wind breaking jacket and whistled through a dark wool hat, made a scarf of deep purple flow behind the figure defying the weather. In hand, a blade sparkled in the reflected light from the snow. _

_It's dim, muted shine let one barely see a pair of eyes on a moon pale face. Hands of strong leather grasped the weapon in a dual grip. Shifting the blade to a single grip, the figure defied the snow with a single slash downwards._

_Silence, but for the howling wind. _

_Another slash, diagonal._

_Only the snow mutely fell._

_Boots stomped down, packing the snow beneath as the figure braced itself and jumped, slicing once, twice, three times before landing again on the same ground. They spun in a circle, stomping the snow down into a packed circle in the midst of a torrent of soft falling snow. In the darkness, no one would see..._

_No one would see Recette if she cried.._

_..._

_It hurts more than I thought it would...to tell this story. I thought I was stronger than this..._

_I shake my head and instead ready my rapier. I tug at my belt with my right hand until a second blade comes free. Not my knife; another rapier. I hold them parallel, watching them glow in the dull light. If I focus on them...even the snow can disappear._

_I close my eyes...and breathe._

_I snap them open and slash with my left, snapping the right up to block. My right snaps forwards and I stab out. Pause to breathe. Draw both back slowly..._

_I chance a glance up to where I know my own shop's windows do not glow..._

_Never mind this. I attack._

_My left and right both flash out, diagonally in an x before I twist them to bring them back up; quickly and straight. They bridge out near eye level as my arms force them apart, again; fast. They come down as my arms start to pinwheel. A twist. The left swings out. Another and the right does the same. I take a step forwards. Then another. I meet deep snow. I draw back._

_I swear as I watch the snow, that my scarf grows longer as it flies about in the wind._

_Is death coming for me then?_

"_I see you have not kept out of practice."_

_I don't even bother turning around. We did plan to meet after all. Still, Griff almost made me jump. Almost. I speak instead to the empty air._

"_Do you have anything to sell Griff, or would you like to buy today?"_

"_Buy. I would like to buy today."_

_I turn around to him, and sheath my blades. I offer him a smile that he does not return. So I let mine drop. He examines me for a bit before he speaks, but I beat him to the punch._

"_Welcome to Recettear, how may I help you?"_

_He smirks then. His eyes flash, and not for the first time I wonder if his blood is luminous while inside him, or if it is just his eyes._

"_I would like to buy...information."_

_I say nothing to this. His face fades into something I can't read as he examines my hands, empty except for each other. Only then does he continue._

"_Who was the woman?"_

_"Terme Finance."_

"_...So you've lost."_

"_No...Not yet."_

_He folded his arms over his chest now. He looked a little sad._

"_Once upon a time you used to spit sunshine and exhale hope. Now all you an manage is a "Not yet." for me. I often wonder if anywhere else is cheaper...?"_

_I don't smile at his play on words, not much. I manage a small one however, and return in kind his comment._

"_I've told you before Griff. I am cheap on price...rich on quality." 775,000 Griff. Final offer."_

_His hands came out of their sleeves then, and I saw the dull glint of some cream colored claws. So. He still had them. I could not examine them at this light or this distance with so much snow, but I knew them when I saw them._

"_...and of course, I took that offer. Fair enough."_

_He turned to walk away, but I stopped him with his name._

"_Griff."_

_He looked back at me, and I rose both of my blades._

"_If you're unsatisfied, then come and test my will against your claws. Maybe then you'll get back your faith in me..."_

_He looked me over once before shaking his head. His voice was rich with irony when he spoke next._

"_It's not you I've lost faith in Recette. It's humans. You restored a small portion of that faith when I met you. Now I have lost it again. You however, I will trust..."_

_He lunged at me and I barely got both blades up in time to block an incoming claw. It met them crossed at the crook of an x. He pushed lightly and I pushed back with difficulty. His eyes narrowed._

"_...only as far as I can test you!"_

_As he broke off the lock of weapons and stepped to my side to try and slash, my mind spun back to the story I had been telling not even an hour before, particularly, a specific fight with this same demon._

_**+~-1~-+**_

"Ten seconds before her butt is handed to her, I'll bet 1,000 pix to that one."

Calliou smirked as he watched Recette and Griff stand awkwardly in the plaza, somewhat opposite each other as they eyed one another; one with apprehension and reluctance, the other with calculated aloofness and slightly registrable concern. Elan frowned at Calliou's rather harsh bet. Nagi shook her head.

"No, Griff doesn't seem willing to do that. She will most likely last longer."

The mage rolled his eyes. Maybe. He narrowed his eyes at the pair before re-assessing.

"Fine. Thirty Seconds."

"Negative. Recette will defeat Griff in that allotted amount of time."

Calliou raised his brows at that, and looked at Arma with a look that clearly said she had just broken his suspension of belief. In half. Arma backed off at the look with something one would swear was a sheepish look if they did not know Arma couldn't possibly look sheepish...or could she? You could never tell these days. Calliou sighed. Dead beats, every one of them. No one had the guts to take him up on his bet, they knew he was right.

"I'm sure she appreciates the vote Arma, but the rules are that Griff has to catch her within two minutes. Recette can't "win" in thirty seconds, she's gotta survive. But I'll take your bet Callou...and raise it. I bet Recette will stay uncaught. 20,000 pix. You up for that one? Or is it too much?"

Looking around, Calliou was surprised to find not only the voice, but the face of Louie behind that bet. He gave the swordsman a half smile that showed only a sliver of teeth on one side. What, was Louie planning on not eating for a month?

"It's not hot at all for me, but you Louie? Are you sure you'll be able to eat if you lose that much pix?"

"40,000 then."

Calliou's smile dropped, and he adopted a look that said quite plainly he was unamused. His suspension of belief threshold had just been crossed, again. Louie however, smiled now. He let a hand navigate downwards so that it could slightly lift a sac of pix that was on his belt. It jingled merrily when he let it go. He rose an eyebrow at the sound. Calliou did too, then he hitched back up his smirk.

"Fine then Lou. I'll raise you. 60,000, she loses."

Now, in all honesty, Louie really, really wanted to wipe that smirk off the mage's face, but Louie's entire bank was 40,000 pix at the moment. Calliou had a longer wallet than he did...but still, Louie felt obligated. These past two weeks he had spared with Recette on and off when-ever he met her and she had the time.

He had hoped fighting with her would both help her here and de-sensitize him to her some. After all, all of his dreams were of damsel in distress saving, and if Recette proved she could take care of herself...he could stop putting her in those scenes...at least that was what he had hoped...

Sadly; his brain had instead found a way of instead spinning tales of two warriors laying waste to all monsters that came their way, and unfortunately; he found this scenario actually more appealing than saving the princess type of work.

Instead of losing interest in Recette, he found his interest in the other women who had started to gaggle about him waning. It did not help that Recette, as she learned more about the arts of fighting and spent more time free to do her own work instead of running her store like a slave, had gained more...what was the word?

Mystique? Louie had always liked a good dosage of that...and he hated himself for it.

So he failed that bit. He did have a good idea of what Recette could do though. So he decided to bite.

"80 She wins."

Calliou's smirk became a feral grin. He knew for a fact now Louie was pulling his leg, there was no possible way the swordsman could have that much money. He was going to enjoy watching him squirm...his eyes glinted as he saw Charme arrive.

"100,000, she loses. I'm not going any higher. Also, neither of us can put up any money but our own. No borrowing to pay the other back."

Louie spared only a token glance as Charme came up to them all. He didn't hesitate. He knew that smile. Calliou thought he had Louie trapped and trussed like a turkey for thanksgiving. He really didn't think Recette could do anything. That above all angered him.

"I'll take that bet. You'll owe me a hundred thousand if she wins."

"You don't worry about that, you worry how you'll pay ME back."

Louie took a look at Charme, who was watching him with a measuring look. He was certain she knew he had been bluffing and was now very, veeeery far out of his depth...but there was a smile on her lips, as if she knew why. Louie refused to show any sign he was feeling any regret, though it was eating him like acid would a paper tissue.

A very dry paper tissue.

Charme turned to Recette and Griff. Her grin was rather impish, but Recette didn't see the humor. While she should have expected something like this with how willingly Charme took her in training wise, it still did little for the facts, but no one seemed to listen to her...she tried again nevertheless, a little desperate.

"Err, Charme, this bet won't work you-"

"Oh come on Recette, don't be a spoil sport, I trained you well enough, you can do it."

Her grin was even wider now, and Recette was not even sure Charme believed in what she was saying. Still, so cut off, Recette could only stew silently. Her head was still echoing with the one glaring detail that made this entire thing one sided.

_"Of...Of course. I suppose you say "private listing" by meaning this particular combination of adventurers can only work as a team when hired by yourself? You are aware that if any three of the four you wish to do this too are hired and are not under any contract to yourself that they can accept, and thus leave you without a team if you come looking? You are also aware that if you wish to register another team and this team is available you cannot legally do so? Once you make a team private, whenever you hire a team and they are available, you MUST hire them and them alone…"_

In other words, Griff could not be hired as a replacement to stand in Charme's place, legally. Griff was fighting for an empty promise...and no one seemed to want to learn that. Her mouth twisted into something that very much looked like a squiggling worm...but she got into stance.

Griff noted her stance and frowned a little. So did Charme, but she made no comment on it. She admitted she had not spent any time on teaching balance to Recette, and it was difficult to exercise the finer points of the girl's standing in the dead of night... but she must know what she was doing somewhat, after all; she was able to dodge well enough. She would have to work on it with her though...maybe. If she was paid. She smirked at the thought. Behind her however, Elan was grinning and Louie had a bit of a smile too. That wasn't an avoidance stance, that was an attackers, and both men knew it. Charme raised an arm and looked at the two "opponents" She let it down with a simple word.

"Go!"

Both combatants rushed forwards, and when Griff slashed out with a claw, Recette did not duck or dance away, but instead grabbed his arm and kicked him soundly in the guts. Calliou's mouth dropped and Louie started to laugh at the combined looks of Charme Calliou and even the bewildered, winded look on Griff's.

Elan just continued to grin. Like he had thought. That was not a defensive stance.

It was designed to attack.

_**+~-2-~+**_

_Snow falls everywhere, both blinding me and making me skid around, but I held my ground as Griff pushed against my guard. I raise one foot and he disengages his attack, but I only mean to stomp it into the ground and then swing out my other. He's surprised, and I catch him in the gut, he backs off, stumbling slightly in the snow, but he regains his composure. He watches me. I watch him. He observes me watching him. The silence stretches._

"_So."_

_A beat passes._

"_So."_

_He narrows his eyes at that response. Then he huffs._

"_You were never suited to become dark and mysterious girl. You were supposed to stay as you were."_

_I blink at this comment. I feel my stomach begin to tie itself into delicate knots. I decide I should probably speak before my body speaks for me._

"_There was only so much I could take. It was either bend...or break. I chose to bend. Was I wrong?"_

_Despite myself, my voice was not as strong as I would have liked it to be when I said that. It wavered, but I could not tell through the snow and darkness, if Griff noticed. If he did he made no indication or comment to it._

"_...No. You chose correctly. I only wish you did not have to make the choice in the first place."_

_Sometimes I wonder if demons had bigger hearts, better hearts; than humans. Here was Griff, the "big bad demon prince bent on destroying humanity with an arch devil or my own strength." ...and what was he doing? _

_He was lamenting, grieving for friends. Where was the little orphan boy who got a second, decent chance at life and lived well and happy? Destroying dreams, crushing hopes and mocking her as he tried to sweep her under his rug. He was looking for a stamp to get his piece of candy, and he did not care how many people he had to hurt to get that stamp. I sighed._

"_I...can't change the past Griff."_

_Not anymore. I didn't say that bit aloud though, because it was the one thing that tore at me worse than anything else. It was the one thing I hated above all else about myself back then, this ability, this curse, to rewind time over and over and over...never escaping, both loving and hating my game of limbo. Wanting it to end..._

_...dreading what would happen if it did._

_I remember once Louie saying to Calliou as the mage had dropped a sandwich he had just bought into the stream..._

"_Yo! You'll miss that later you know!"_

"_Ha. You think I'm you? I'm not a trash disposal, I won't miss a single sandwich."_

"_...You never miss anything do you?"_

"_What is there to miss?"_

"_...You'll never miss anything..."_

_Until it's all gone. He had whispered the last bit, and Recette had been certain Calliou had not heard it. She however, had. She brought herself back to the snow and darkness just in time to see Griff end his morose examination of her._

"_I know you cannot. Yet sometimes your reputation proceeds you, and I assure myself you can."_

_I smiled a little at that. If only. It was possible to rewind time around a person, but it required a start point, a significant amount of magic equal to the amount of time, an anchor proxy and finally a person who was "pure". _

_I was missing...all of those requirements. I have no start point that would make any difference, since the events I want to change in the past, that desire to change them...had come after the events that I wanted to change, like Louie says...you don't miss what you have until it's gone... and as each day passed the amount of magic needed increased, and I was in no way up to that task. Griff said that I am quite powerful, but I disagree, and besides..._

_Even he admitted that "quite powerful" was nowhere near to the amount of time that needed to change. I have no anchor too. My shop is a burnt, blackened thing, there was hardly anything in there not effected by it, and usually an anchor was a person anyway...and the only person who would make sense as an anchor..._

_...was in no shape to help me._

_Finally; I needed a pure person. Maybe, once upon a time...but now? No. _

"_I wish I could sell you this, I really do...but I'm afraid I'm out of stock."_

"_I know."_

_He turned around, and I called after him as he began to walk._

"_Is this your last visit?"_

"_Yes."_

_The knots in my body, which had loosened somewhat; grew tighter, and I was sure he would soon be able to tell, I wasn't sure how much more...I could hold on for. I swallowed._

"_I...if my shop is destroyed..."_

_He did not turn around, but interrupted_

"_You will lose."_

"_No."_

_He looked back at me, dispassionate._

"_Yes, you would have. Whether or not you accept the defeat is up to you, but you will lose once this shop is gone. It is all that is left of the one bright spot humanity had. You have proven to me your strength of will, but will is not enough to stop the tides of time."_

_He looked forwards again, and this time when I spoke up, he did not turn around. He just continued to walk. I swallowed again, and my body tied itself just a little tighter. Disregarding the snow, I sat down on the ground. _

_Calliou as I knew him was gone._

_I took a deep breath and held it._

_Griff would never return again._

_I continued to hold my breath, trying to stop my brain from reciting it's ditty. It continued, and by the next name, I had given up and let my stomach tie itself up into more knots, and my throat to constrict even further._

_I would never see Tielle again._

_Louie had gone to a place that I can't follow. Not yet. _

_It was coming. Soon it would come. Soon I would break..._

_I never got there._

_I suddenly found a pair of arms around my neck, and someone pressed against my back. I saw in the darkness, strands of deep red, and I knew that she must have been watching me from the window...but at the moment, I was surprised out of my mood. She was as warm as a person who had just run outside from a fireplace heated house should be, and it made me realize how cold I was...I could only manage one word, though already knew the answer to what I was asking._

"_Why?"_

"_You looked like you were about to cry."  
_

_I released myself from my own hold, untying my stomach and throat; but I surprised myself by not doing the very thing I had been trying to prevent. I did not cry. I just sat there, exhausted, being held in the snow by someone who, despite cooling quickly, was still warmer than me. I rose a hand and she let me go. I looked her over. At least this time she was dressed properly. My hand traced an arc before I committed energy to the gesture, and a small ball of fire, more for light than warmth, sprang into life on my palm._

_I correct myself. The girl, in her haste, had not put on a scarf. I was much stronger of voice when I addressed her than just a few moments ago with Griff._

"_Thank you...I needed that. We should go inside. It's snowing."_

_I almost smiled as I said it... for it was such an obvious thing to say that I was sure the other girl knew I was just saying it for the sake of saying it. Empty words. She cracked a smile that hid a laugh behind it. _

"_Duh. I suppose next you're going to tell me the sky is blue?"_

_This time I actually did smile._

"_Nope. I'm going to tell you it's brown."_

_She looked at me strangely. Her mouth was twisted up into a sort of frown._

"_Brown? Why such an ugly color?"_

"_It's the only color it doesn't turn into by itself I think. At least, it's the only color I have not seen it turn."_

_Her expression became even more confused._

"_You've seen a green sky?"_

"_Yep."_

_As we walked back, I looked her over with a practiced eye. Only this time I was not looking her over in the way I had been, simply looking at her current needs and appearance, I tried to look at her like a customer, and a few words came to mind that mixed into a report as I watched her continue to speak._

_Likes Gaudy things, sweets, hats and rings. Doesn't like to talk unless she knows you, likes to read. Will not buy any weapons, but might like armor if it looks nice. She's a high class customer, and those hands have never seen anything rougher than a paper cut...but..._

_She can be kind, and she knows now what she was doing was wrong. Willing to change...a bit naïve...It's almost like...It's almost as if..._

_It's almost like I am Tear ,and she is Recette. Not her tastes or her personality...but I seem to get the same kind of vibe, that same...purity. _

_A person who is pure huh...I look over the mental list of the things I would need to change this time...but I decide that, no... I don't have the heart to..._

_...check that item off the list._

_I will not use her, even if I could. Tear had no choice with me._

_I do, and I will find another way._

_No matter what._

_**+~-3-~+**_

_I watched her sleep, for once she had been exhausted, and she went to bed before me. I insisted she keep her own bed this time, so I watched her as I waited for sleep to come and take me too. Again I marveled at how young and simple she looked as she slept. There was no trace of stress in that sleeping form. Not show of her will or ability. She was simply a girl, a young woman, sleeping away the night._

_I adjusted myself on the chair I had taken residence in and marveled how she could have slept in it so peacefully yesterday. I had far more bedding tacked on it than she had, and it was still difficult to find a comfortable spot..._

_At least I was out of the visual range of that infernal mushroom. As I mused about this I grinned, then I yawned. _

_I had seen Recette almost cry. I had seen her actually twist up to prevent it, not the small beads of moisture that had fallen before with no indication they had come from her...but actual, human crying...slowly as I watched her...she became more human, and I became more worried. She was just a girl._

_Just a girl against two of the richest companies in I don't know where and all their resources...and she was not even one hundred percent. She was damaged, and I was not sure I was the one equipped to fix her. _

_I could hardly fix myself..._

_Another yawn caught me, and I almost nodded off. I took one last glance around the room and focused on the scarf Recette had been wearing. It was a beautiful royal purple. It reminded me of her friend, the scarf loving Louie. I wonder if he gave it to her?_

_As I drifted to sleep, my mind provided me with a movie, as it always does, of the story I had heard just hours before..._

_..._

Recette ducked under a slash of claws and sidestepped Griff, swinging her foot to trip him up, but he jumped over the attempt. He reached for her, but she jumped back and away from him. He charged after her and disappeared from view, but Recette had long practice with this maneuver. Griff could make himself invisible...

She jumped backwards and kicked him in the kidneys, making him stop short and appear again, wincing but not downed. He recovered in time to make a grab for her foot as she retracted it from the kick. He missed it. She smiled as she darted to his side.

...but he could not make the dirt he kicked up from the ground invisible too. Charme's voice rang out and Griff increased his speed as he heard her message.

"Time's half done, you've got a minute left Griff. Come on, catch her, she's not _that_ slippery!"

Recette jumped back from another slash and bolted to the side and away, and Griff sprang after her in chase... Yet, Recette only ran a few paces before stopping short and darting in a new direction, back the way she came, her elbow hitting home in the demon's stomach before he was knocked aside.

He was unable to stop and change his direction in time. Griff was quick, but he needed to slow down to change his direction when he went too quickly, and that was where Recette had the advantage...one she planned to use to the fullest.

Griff recovered and lunged after her once more, but again Recette stopped short and jumped backwards, her back slamming into the demon's head, disorientating him. He was not in the mind to grab her, muddled as he was; so Recette was able to escape once more and stand, waiting for Griff to re-capture his senses, wary for when he did. He recovered in time to hear Charme chime in.

"Half a minute left~ Looks like I'll win at this rate."

Griff sped at Recette and slashed, and then did not stop slashing. Recette had to keep backing up, seeing no opening to dance away; for every time she tried... he snapped his claws straight and almost caught her. She was slowly getting backed into a corner, and Louie's words came back to her.

"_...Eventually if you don't hit back, someone is going to hit you..."_

Recette feinted another escape attempt, but when Griff snapped to catch her, she instead kicked the crook of his elbow with her right foot, then grabbed his other arm below the claws and pulled him in to knee him in the gut with the other leg before she pushed off him. Griff's attack pattern had been broken, and he wavered to keep his balance. She jumped back when he charged again and this time when she swung out her foot, Griff fell flat on his face, just in time for Charme to yell: "Time!"

Looks like there was a definitive winner after all. Calliou's mouth was still wide open, eyes still bugged out. Charme decided to throw an orange at him to wake him up, but his mouth was open so wide that the orange popped half way in before Calliou sputtered and hacked, trying to relieve the thing from going down. His eyes were watering before he finally got it out, and he could only manage to splutter a: "No Way!" before Louie sauntered up to him and held out a gloved hand. The mage looked down at it and then to him, then back to the hand. Louie curled his fingers back and forth a few times.

"Yo. I'm waiting."

_**+~-E-~+**_

_More Louie Angst, fun. _

_I started a new story this week, so really in the nine ish days it took to update, I did not write just this chapter, but a whole new story that has three chapters now. (Don't be jealous of it, it has short chapters, the entire thing is less than eight k words even with three chaps. No brainer as to which stories chapters have more content in them...lol.)_

_I'm an author who writes darkly, and I can get extremely so at times...but I firmly believe in two things. One if not putting more than needed. If the darkness becomes too much, really, what does the character have to live for? You need the sun to shine once and a while to appreciate when things get dark, and it makes you value that sunshine all that much more. _

_The second is that a character has to be shown developing. You have to see them at both the high and low to understand how they are the way they are. I love realism in stories, and revel in trying to use as much logic as possible in a story to make sure things make sense and that the reader leaves looking at people, not paper cut-outs. These two things combined give me a very nice focus for what I write, but my own experiences make me prefer to give a character hell before giving them cake. _

_But rest assured. The greater the hell, the sweeter the cake. I'm not Portal, I promise you this cake is not a lie! _

_Hello MikeyJC, welcome back! Yes until recently, it was kinda dead. But when I decided to update with chapter seven for old times sake, I received a kick in the rear which spawned chapter 8, 9, 10 and now 11. That kick was given to me by Lunar Wave._

_Hello to you HikariNiwa. I'm sorry it makes you sad, but I can promise that it wont always be. I just might take a while to get to the happy bits._

_Ctb, I have been told, on occasion, about being a genius, but I tend to disbelieve such comments. I have a rather humble idea about my ability, and I find humility lets me write on a constant mission to improve. It makes me work harder. XD _

_I'm not really upset if no one saw this coming. The big fight between Recette and Griff was a false climax that I had planned for a long while, but I spent so long between updates that I would not be surprised in the least to see that this particular detail sailed right out of people's minds. Unless you re-read everything after such a long wait, in that case, well, maybe you did see it as an inevitability._

_**Notes:**_

_1: I did say I knew little about Crystal Nightmare, but one of the things I do know is Samael's Mantle. Which is the scarf Recette is wearing in the opening. It is a scarf, that, if I remember correctly, was said to grow longer as a warning as to if Death were coming for you. Now, if it's actually growing or if Recette is imagining things...I won't say. You'll have to look and see. _

_Take Care~Finalage_


	13. Penance

_In response to reviews I received about last chapter's quality:_

_If you read last chapter within one to two days of it being posted, or within the first twenty four hours, you may want to look back and re-read it. I made a few changes to it that lengthened the chapter by about 550 words. If you don't care to look back, a quick re-cap will be posted at the end of this chapter._

_My fingers are cold, cut up and whatever else comes from a day of outside work, but I'm in the mood to type. So I must, despite the less than ideal standard, let's get going! Of course, I'm going to be typing slowly. I've got a cut about an inch long right on the all important thumb, and it's deep, so deep it still looks open the next day. So yeah...slow...I can't speed mash keys and risk that opening again._

_(I can update four days later to say it still looks open, but I can type now more or less quickly.)_

_This chapter was exceedingly difficult to write for another reason, I just could not get the words to work together. It did not want to flow to my taste, so I forced them out, and thus this chapter will probably show it._

_I resurrected an over four year old poll on my profile, asking people to rate me. If you like, you can cast a vote, but it's mainly there for show. I appreciate every vote though. XD_

_I knew it would happen sooner or later; but so soon? Lemongrass Stains got kicked back down to third place again favorites wise… Bonds Under Ocean Waves has passed it. =S Not asking anyone to try and reclaim it, that would be murder, seeing as Bonds is a How To Train Your Dragon fic, and that section itself is murder trying to stay on the first page. _

_I've also started another new story, but this is my limit. I just came out of Hiatus, I am not going to do more than three, and trust me, the others, if you look at them, do not have quite the effort I place here, neh? _

_I doubt anyone there would be as loyal as you guys are. Again I thank you for that._

_Book end author notes again. =.=~C.F Winchester_

_**~Lemongrass Stains: Recette's Annual.**_

_**Chapter Twelve: Penance**_

Louie stuck his hand in front of Calliou's nose again and cleared his throat. Calliou narrowed his eyes. Then he looked away from the hand and met Charme. She gave him a rather leery smile with eyes that sparkled. Calliou was not going to get any quarter there...he turned around to look back at Louie.

"I...don't have the money at this moment."

Oh this was rich. Louie grinned. This was richer than his waiting one hundred thousand. His tone waxed on an almost saunter as he illustrated his point with his hands as he spoke.

"Oh, so the big bad mage who told ME not to worry about how he was going to pay me back now says he doesn't have the money? The guy who gave Recette... What was it you said? Ten seconds? Where's the fire now? Pay me. Your rules say you can't loan it from anyone, has to be your own money. YOU made those rules bud."

Calliou frowned and looked to the side, where Arma stood. He wasn't going to get help in that direction either. He hazarded a glance on the other side, but no go, Elan was there. He was boxed in. He sighed and then dug his hands into his pockets.

"Fine, you win. Here."

He tossed a bag at Louie, who caught the rough throw smoothly. Calliou's frown grew deeper at that, but he made no comment. Louie opened the bag and his eyes widened at the pure gold that winked at him. He looked up at Calliou.

"Is this-"

"Oh if you don't believe me ask that counter jockey of yours. It's gold pix you idiot. You never seen it before? Oh wait, no of course not, your money bag must obviously be full or nothing but plain pix, I was stupid to take your bait. Go ahead and laugh."

Louie didn't say a single word to Calliou, but opened the draw string of his own bag and picked out a gleaming silver pix. He tossed it up so it caught in the sun light before catching it again.

"I know about the different values of pix...and I can count just fine."

Having seen Recette do it countless times, he shifted through the coins and gathered up a bunch in his hands, shifting a few out to plunk back in the bag when his fingers caught too many. Using this method to cup them in his hands, he looked at them to make sure before grinning and transferring the amount to his own bag. He did this four more times before he held up four loose coins and stuffed them back in the bag. He tossed it back at Calliou.

"You gave me extra bud. I don't need a tip!"

Calliou gave him a smirk as he caught the nearly empty bag of pix. He stuffed it back into his robes before answering.

"You sure there? Last I checked it was one hundred even in there."

Louie grinned right back.

"Alright then, so give me those then."

"No thanks!"

Louie's grin became even wider; so did Calliou's. Alright, the mage had to admit, he had been caught and throttled good this time. Maybe the swordsman wasn't such a loser character after all. He had his prospects...Calliou looked up as Louie spoke again.

"I've seen Recette count coins enough times. She has this way of knowing exactly the size of a stack with twenty coins. She showed me. So I just did that and counted. It's a lot faster."

He turned to look at Recette after he said this. She was still looking down at Griff, who was only now brushing himself off, now kneeling on the floor.

Recette blinked once at the downed form of Griff picking himself up off the ground. Her mouth twisted again into that squiggly worm. She winced as Griff stood up fully, but managed to keep the movement small, so barely anyone noticed at all. Except Tear. Always Tear. She looked curiously at her for it.

Honestly, Recette was surprised it was not worse. She had pushed herself this entire month. Every night with Charme, almost every morning with Elan, just about every other day these past few weeks with Louie...she was sore. She had woken up this morning sore all over, and tired. She had not gone to Elan this morning...and she wanted to sleep all day today...

...and there was this terrible pain in her lower middle that just made her feel crabby thinking about it. However...as she was about to try and leave the procession that had huddled about Griff, she heard Charme point out to him that "fair was fair" and that he had to pay off Elan's tab.

It was not fair...and she had to stop them from making him pay off that debt...her mind spun it's wheels quickly, trying to come up with an excuse to at least save him some time and she remembered something that could save Griff for a while; and least until she herself had gotten a decent rest... and she spoke up.

"You can't pay off the debt yet."

"Huh?"

Charme turned and looked at Recette. The girl stood a tiny bit straighter, but something was off about her. She seemed a bit sharper than normal, and that was including this past month's experience. Elan answered her.

"Why not?"

"The pub isn't open yet."

This was quite true. However, Charme frowned as she watched Recette slip away. She allowed the fairy to give chase and counted to twenty before following them, the rest of the crowd dispersing their own ways behind her.

Recette was being clipped and snappish, which was not like the girl at all, and if Charme believed in fate she would say her talk came just in time...but she could not chalk that up to fate just yet...she had a feeling something else was on Recette's mind...

She followed the train of people a few spaces behind Tear's fluttering wings, weaving through the people with a practiced ease and rarely stepping off the side of the street, when Tear stopped, she kept right on walking, and she passed the fairy as she weaved about in pursuit of Recette. Charme did not double back, but instead stayed ahead, monitoring with a casual air when they got too close and pulling ahead again. She could let them pass her later.

One of the key mistakes a rookie scout will make is to stop when their quarry does. It's foolish instinct. Stopping gives your position away and informs the target that you are tracking them. If they stop, continue on. You can monitor them just as well from the front if you are casual in your manner, and you can even delude them into believing _they_ are tailing _you_...if they were suspicious before. This way you can literally reign them in wherever you wish.

Charme let them pass her a few blocks before Recettear came up, and she lingered by a street corner to watch people mill by. She already knew where they were headed, so why rush? Give them time to organize themselves, to diffuse suspicion. The best way to get information out of a berk was to put them off guard. Sure, everyone is afraid of a big, scary lion coming at you, but you hardly ever notice a silent snake until it gets you...and she planned to enter without any hissing.

When she did enter, it was with a tinkle of a bell that answered a mostly empty shop. Tear however, was floating about. She did not look happy to see Charme at all, but she remained civil enough as she approached.

"Hey~ Where is-"

"That was cowardly and underhanded."

Charme stopped mid sentence and looked over Tear. Still the same fairy.

"He-wha? Pot calling kettle's bottom black aren't we? You did the same thing to her last month with her father's debt. Only I at least was asked. I just made the activity benefit me too. Did she ask you to put her through the hell that gave birth to this ever so fine shop I'm standing in?"

Her hands came out to slip along the polished telling counter. She blew imaginary dust off the finger to illustrate her point. Tear huffed and flew a little higher.

"Any item you chose to buy will be five times price."

"Ouch, really? What about this nice little Walnut bread?"

"600 pix."

"Really? You gonna pull that joke on me?"

"600 pix."

Charme huffed and gave up, putting the bread down on the counter between them. She fixed tear with a glare.

"Really fire-fly, what's your problem? I did what I was asked to do!"

Tear huffed again, but if she flew any higher she'd lose sight of the thief's face, so she just hovered closer. Face to face thus, Tear looked Charme dead in the eye with a pure intent of ill will before she allowed herself to fall a few inches and away. Her whole demeanor went from angry to exhausted as if something in her had snapped. Charme dully noted the change and prepared herself.

"You took her from me."

"Wha?"

"Recette. You took her and made her into something else. She trains with Elan in the early mornings, comes to run her shop right after, runs it perfectly and efficiently, then goes out in the afternoons to replenish stock or craft items, meets Louie, spars with him, comes back and runs her shop again before she goes with you. Any spare time in between, she reads, organizes her wares...we don't spend any time around town anymore. I don't hear her laugh, or see her...dopey smile or some other infernal look or utter plain happiness it made my teeth rot with the sweetness."

Dopey? Did she just call Recette dopey? Not that she disagreed but...dopey. It was such a...well...dopey...word to use. It inspired someone to laugh at it, it was just so stupidly hilarious. Dopey. Like goofy, or doofy, if that even was a word. Charme snapped herself to the present to respond.

"I didn't take her from you...she's with you all day isn't she? Just busy with the shop YOU made her start. Listen don't ask me why, because I really don't get why, but that girl loves you. Nothing I do will change that."

Tear however, was not hearing it, she shook her head and pointed up the stairs.

"That girl up there looks like Recette Lemongrass, but Recette Lemongrass is an innocent child. One who hardly ever picks up a book, one who hardly knows how to think, but whose purity draws people to her. This girl spends all her free time reading and organizing, she accomplishes her tasks with ease, she-"

Charme slapped the counter between them to stop the flow of words. The walnut bread jumped off the counter and fell to the floor and bounced, sending a few crumbs flying as it landed near Charme's foot top-side down.

"She's growing up! So what? You afraid that she does not need you anymore? Afraid the little robot you made doesn't need to be told how to run anymore? You trained her to do something, now you're whining that she can do it without you. Isn't that why you wanted to leave her? You think you should go back to your miserable loan shark life? Oh wait; you can't! Do me a favor Tear and tell me what's really bothering you."

"You damaged store goods-"

She cut her off with a growl.

"I'll pay for the blasted thing. Your turn."

Tear let herself land on the counter and promptly sat down on it, forcing Charme to look down and arrange herself so that she could lean on the counter and keep the fairy in view. Tear looked up at the looming purple eyes. She said without preamble:

"You're her big sister."

Charme said nothing, only blinked. She did not really get where this was going.

"She does not say it, I doubt she even thinks it, but you have filled that role in her life. You have taught her things, gave her advice and trained her. You're her big sister now. That...was supposed to be my role."

Charme raised her eyebrows at that one, and looked the fairy up and down. Such a small big sister to have. She almost grinned, but she knew the fairy would catch the meaning behind it, so she held it in check for once. She only blinked again. Tear sighed.

"I have no use to her. I am an employee with no use. I share a hearth and home with her, but she doesn't need me. I...need her. I am a parasite now. I could not even save her from you...it all started with you...and your taking her home...If I could make you pay for that-"

Charme held up a hand to stop the fairy there, and Tear had the mind this time to follow the instruction.

"Hey, hey, whoa. I think we both know I did absolutely nothing to Recette that day. I took her home, I put her to sleep on my bed, I slept on a chair. I might have pretended to get her riled up, but that plan failed. Recette did not even know anything about the bees and mushrooms...I had to teach her. I did not do anything else."

Tear looked up at the ceiling. Charme smirked at the look the fairy had.

"First time?"

Tear rounded on her with a look of disgust. Seriously?

"How do you expect ME to know?"

"Who's the big sister wanna be here?"

Tear sighed, rolling her eyes again upwards, only this time her aim was the heavens. Seeing through the roof was her goal. Too bad her eyes did not work that way. She looked down to see Charme had bent down and had picked up the bread, and had cut off a bit of it and crushed it in her hands before taking a bite of it. She opened her mouth, but then noticed a silver pix on the counter. Grudgingly she took it and managed to ring up the sale, but Charme waved away the change.

"Penance."

_**+~-1-~+**_

"_You don't dance?"_

_I looked at her in surprise. The question had struck me out of nowhere, but I was surprised that she would answer me so bluntly with a no. Why, every girl had to know how to dance, it was the basis of all teachings...oh._

_Of course. Recette had never been taught by anyone. I scratched my head and then decided with myself. Standing up I grabbed her hand and hauled her up. She got up mainly herself anyway. It was actually kind of funny, the look in her eyes. A slight fear. I almost laughed at her. So, she could still be scared too! Of dancing! I gave her a small grin, and tried to coax her away from the counter._

_I was not a terrific dancer myself, to be honest. I was passable by my instructor's ministrations. Still, I could teach the basics and a few more complex moves, even if I could not perform them myself. I lacked the flexibility for advanced forms of ballet, but I was sure that I could teach them if I needed to. _

_It was true, listening to her story was interesting, and she had this way of taking you with her into that world of the past, but in this sunny day where the snow outside shone bright as it struggled vainly to keep itself around and away from melting, I was feeling rather too energetic to sit still and listen. _

_As I instructed and Recette moved about, I noticed her fluidity. She could move, but said she had never danced...either she was a natural or something else was up. My eyes rested on an empty sheath on her belt and I wondered... her movements were not quite like a dancer, more purposeful and harsh, like a fighter... so I asked._

"_Are you fighting or dancing?"_

_She blinked at me, but then slowly grinned. I did not really get what was so exciting...I had asked a simple question...but she explained, and once again I saw the brilliance in her, the brilliance that had at first made me think she had no flaws._

_She rested a hand on a counter as she spoke, her hand massaging the dusty, discolored wood. _

"_I had a friend once, who told me that "Living is dancing, and fighting is living." It never made sense to me, not really; until now. They are all one in the same, so why can't I treat them the same way? If living is dancing and dancing is living and living is fighting then I have danced a lot. "_

_She frowned as her hand brushed a rough spot on the counter, and she paused to rub at it and then ball up a few loose strands of wood._

_"Soo..this is dancing then."_

_She began a series of movements much faster than I had been teaching her, with a greater conviction, only she mixed the speed with the smoothness I had been showing her, rounding out the edges of her performance so that there were no punches or kicks but simply movement. It was dancing...and not dancing. It was fighting...and not fighting. It was simply movement; and it was beautiful._

_Choreography. That's what she was showing me. It was no set dance that I knew, but it was fluid and artistic all the same._

_Her movements stopped_ _as it approached lunch time, and afterward, she sobered as she checked a calendar. Her fingers traced the days, and I knew for what she was counting. She looked up at me and gave me a sour grin._

"_I have one month from tomorrow; and I have no viable plan. I have resources and I have information, but no means."_

_She pulled out a book from a pocket and opened it to show me a map of Pensee and the surrounding land, not just the desert and dungeon lands, but other towns and cities._

"_Tiger Deals want's to demolish this part of Pensee and turn it into an attraction. They sell everything, so they are displaying that prowess by now selling services as well. Pensee will become a district for shopping and amusement, a park built upon the crushed homes here. It's an ideal place, the center of this continent's economy. The land is paid for, but they are raising sponsor funds and awareness, housing for new money...a kind of gala will take place in a week outside Pensee. I don't know exactly where...there is also an adventurer's competition coming up. Three weeks from now. More funding being raised. Several adventurers from as far wide as they can, competing for a prize. Both events are run by Tiger Deals, both are there to get funding and to spread information..."_

_I smiled. I could see the problem, and for once...I had a solution. I was practically bursting with it. I had a use, finally! She looked at me in a peculiar way before tilting her head to the side. She smiled lightly._

"_I remember Tear asking me one day why I had such a big smile on my face."_

_I looked at her and cleared my throat, and pointed to the map._

"_The convention for Tiger Deals is a invite-only basis. It's where all the rich will go to gossip and spill pix on over priced merchant items. It's going to take place in this town, right here. I know because my family received an invitation. It's for young lords and ladies only. The invitation was for me and my cousins. As for the adventurer's competition, it's for high class gladiators and adventurers only. The elder lords and ladies will be there betting their riches to whoever wins and making deals. It's a nice place for gossip..."_

_Recette smiled. Her eyes exploded into light and I felt a thrill of danger rush down my neck. I was not sure if I liked that fired up look in her. She circled the spots I indicated on her map, then looked up._

"_How many people know you in the fund raising convention?"_

"_Most of them. They know I work for Terme Finance too, so I'm not quite welcome there..."_

"_Does the invitation specify you as invited and are you allowed guests or...?"_

_I couldn't see what she was driving at but told her no. It just was a plain invitation saying whoever had it was invited. She grinned at this and I started to feel my own wheels turn. Slowly I saw what she was driving at. If they knew me, I could not go as myself, but they did not know Recette...and every invitee was allowed a guest...usually a servant of some kind._

_We had an invite, well, my family had it, I would have to travel back home, that would take a week...and the gala was being held in my home town...Recette spun on her heels and dipped into a clumsy curtsey. I frowned at it. She had natural grace but no practice. She saw my frown and smiled._

"_We leave tonight. Do you think you can turn me into a young lady of some estate or other by the time we get there? I don't know anything of fine etiquette...but we need to get in there."_

_I looked her over, and was already half convinced to do something, since it was better than sitting around in this depressing shop just waiting for it to get mowed over...but I still had to ask._

"_Just for some gossip?"_

_She frowned._

"_No. My friend Calliou's arch-mage bid comes to a close in three and a half weeks time. He will be at both events I think, trying to gain some last minute favor and votes. The first event I can avoid him, he'll be busy with prominent people, and, if I'm correct, the gala is themed isn't it? There is where he'll be most daring, trying to make connections. The right people are there to call in favors for...and I have a lot of favors that need to be called in."_

_I nodded at this. The gala had a costume theme. A lot of these types of parties for the high classed usually had a theme or some other such stipulation to enhance the fun of it. It would have to be a good costume, but then again there would be hundreds of guests, and the mage was only one man._

_"I also want to attend to try and convince sponsors that this business venture will not be quite as profitable as they hope. If I can knock off enough sponsorship bids, maybe pull a few unto another cause... Tiger Deals might be willing to negotiate."_

_She walked about the room as she continued to speak, filling a pack with supplies. I tried to keep track of it alll, but I coudn't._

"_...and the second event?"_

_She paused and looked at me._

"_He'll be entering the contest. It's a move to prove his strength. If he can mass enough support to win Arch-mage, he'll use his influence to push Tiger Deals farther."_

"_Wait, since when was he part of Tiger Deals?"_

_She had turned back to her work by now, but she answered me as she searched for something in a cabinet._

"_Who do you think is sponsoring him in the tournament? Obviously they would choose a champion to sponsor."_

_I felt stupid again...but still._

"_Have they chosen him yet?"_

"_I don't know."_

"_Then how do you know he will-"_

_She interrupted me with a distracted wave of the hand and a rush to another cabinet. The kitchen was becoming quite ham-bugged..._

"_He's been the favorite to wind since he announced his participation."_

_I suddenly got a light-bulb off in my head as I made the connection. She had gotten this information from Griff hadn't she? Her informant was the demon...and this was his final report. They were hinging some operation of their own, probably to raise enough money to buy back all of Pensee from Tiger Deals...okay wait no. That sounded stupid even in my head. _

_There was no way the could raise that much money. Sure, if they pulled a few strings and pulled favors in both events from rich patrons they'd get a tidy sum, and if they had some money already too it would make a nice mound but...they would have to practically destroy the entire betting system with a..._

_I looked at Recette._

_...underdog gladiator._

_Was she planning on entering a friend of hers into that adventurer's tournament as a dark horse? No that could not be it...she had to have something else going on...even if she did all that she'd be hard pressed to get the money..._

_I refused to believe something so stupid could be her plan. Only a desperate soul would risk their life on so little a chance._

_There had to be something more...Recette said she was pulling favors, not only money..._

_She saw my face as she closed a cupboard and paused. Then she sighed._

_"No, I don't only want the money. This event it another opportunity to pull sponsors away from Tiger Deals, and demoralize them at the same time. I can limit new sponsors and pull away old ones...they will be willing to sell the land for cheap after three disasters."_

_I almost nodded, but then I realized something was off. She was back in another cabinet now._

_"Three?"_

_She did not smile, but there was an aura of one about her as she spoke._

_"The third one is my secret."_

_She tossed two full packs unto the counter as well as a supple belt of leather with a sheath and a set of two daggers. She held out a bow to me. I looked from it to her. Then back to it. She pushed it into my hands. it was an elegantly simple weapon. She pushed a quiver near the pack closest to me. It was also the smallest pack. I frowned but made no comment. _

_I was not an iron-backed merchant after all._

_"So. I left you with Tear and Charme, didn't I? The two of them did not realize I was still well able to hear on the steps as I was."_

_"Were you really having..."_

_She looked at me with a pointed look. Not the time to ask those questions. Really, as she began the story again, I wondered why I even had wanted to know in the first place..._

_**+~-2-~+**_

Griff grit his teeth as he took a seat in the pub. It had opened a little late today, and although the owner was no happy at all to see Elan, he welcomed everyone else, even Louie, who gave him about 50 silver pieces, the rest of his tab, paid off. He was a free man! It felt good! He declined the "celebratory drink" the owner offered him for it though. He was done with it.

Booze wasn't worth it. That was the lesson Louie was taking away. Charme sidled up to the pub owner and explained that he would be getting all of Elan's tab paid off today too. She indicated Griff. He rose his eyebrows, but said nothing. He'd see it when he believed it.

"Poor soul. You lost a bet or something?"

Griff's teeth ground at each other, but he managed to answer through them a barely discernible;

"In a way."

Charme seemed to be having the time of her life. She looked form the two men and then tot he bartender. She smiled a dazzling wide one at him and indicated Griff.

"Well, lay it on us, how much does the poor boy owe you?"

The barkeep opened his mouth and then looked at the demon seriously.

"Those glasses glued on?"

"No. Why should they be?"

"They'll come flying off when I tell you the debt is why. I ain't paying for no smashed specs. Hold on to them puppies."

Griff narrowed his eyes.

"I do not intimidate so easy. I have money enough...for this. Tell me his debt."

"You could pay it in installments yah know, I won't stress you, as it's not yours to pay..."

"...Meanwhile he continues to guzzle more of it to keep himself in debt? No thank you. I will pay it in full; now."

The bartender looked at him with a hard stare that Griff returned with an impassive one. The man huffed.

"Suit yourself. He owes me 1,400,000 pix. Cash boy, now. Oops! There go those glasses!"

Indeed, Griff had stood up so quickly and swung around at Elan with such force that his glasses had flown clean off his face and smacked Charme across the eyes, making her see stars and bowl over to land on her behind, Griffs' glasses hanging off her nose like some parody of a "just caught sleeping on the job" librarian. His eyes nevertheless found Elan and he growled a deep, primal sound.

"How. In the nine hells worth of freezing over, can you drink such a large tab for yourself?"

While Elan tried to stammer out some kind of explanation, Louie popped up his head from behind the counter, where he had ducked after Griff had swung. It was he who saw the savior of the day arrive first.

"You don't have to pay it Griff."

Recette pushed a familiar document unto the counter, and Louie saw his own name signed in his own penmanship. It was the agreement they had for the teams to go into the nightmare. She pushed it towards Griff.

"Charme did not tell me of your bet until today. Otherwise I would have stopped it sooner. I tried to say it was not fair...but she would not let me."

Recette looked over to said thief, who looked up with the glasses still hanging askew on her nose. She gave a sheepish smile, but answered.

"I thought you were trying to say it was not fair because you were chickening out."

"No. Griff, look at what it says right there."

Griff looked, and then read the rules aloud in a gruff growl that seemed to be completely directed at Charme.

"We, the signed below, agree to the following terms:

-If any of our number are hired and are not under any current contract to the merchant: "Recette Lemongrass" we may accept.

-If any of our number wish to register into another team and this team is available we cannot legally do so.

-Once a team is private whenever we are hired by: "Recette Lemongrass" and this configuration is available, this configuration must be hired…**no differences in number or members is allowed.**"

He looked up to glare at Charme.

"You were aware of this?"

"I...uh...well, not really-"

"Funny. I see you signed your name here."

Before anyone could get any further, Recette approached the bar tender.

"Ahh, Recette, a bit young to order anything I'm afraid, but what can I do for you?"

"What is Elan's tab?"

"You sure you want to know?"

"Yes."

"1.4 million pix my girl. He's in deep."

Recette looked at him, seemingly thinking for a few seconds, then reached at her belt, and pulled off her money pouch. From it, she filled her hands and put two stacks on the table. She repeated this action seven times, allowing all present to see the pure, brilliant platinum coins.

"280 platinum pix should be the right amount. Elan..."

The priest, dumbfounded, looked at the young girl who had just unloaded a fortune to save his behind. He dumbly nodded that he was listening.

"I think I'll call in this as a favor. Remember you own me one...I think that even if I hired you for every day of the week for free all next month; you'd be unable to pay off that debt...so I'll call it a favor."

Recette smiled to the dumbfounded look on his face and then smiled at Charme, who was looking at her as if she came from Mars. Louie too, was stunned. The barkeep simply swept the coins in his till without comment. Griff recovered first. But as Recette left, taking the contract with her... one would wonder if he really recovered, for he did something he never did.

He ordered a whiskey.

He drank it in silence, the rest of the party still frozen near him, but he leaned over and snatched his glasses from Charme after he had finished his glass.

Before he left though, he looked at her oddly.

"Perhaps it is the whiskey, but I think you actually looked better with these glasses on."

Without further comment, he put his spectacles back on and left the still dumbfounded pub.

_**+~-E-~+**_

_I realize that even though some of you would have done the simple math in the first chapter, I have never officially told you the system I put in place for pix in this story. So here we go~. Consider any item in the game that you know of to work on the Bronze scale, like depicted in previous chapters. _

_1 Bronze = 1 Bronze. (Doi.)_

_200 Bronze = 1 Silver._

_1000 Bronze = 1 Gold._

_5000 Bronze= 1 Platinum._

_So, don't want to drop a whole bag of coin for just two measly walnut breads? Fear not! If you're buying at base price, like your friendly neighborhood vending machine, just pop in one silver! All done~_

_Oooh, Tear Angst now! More fun. =S. This is an Angst story after all, though I am thinking of changing the category to be honest. I get a kind of Adventure/Tragedy feel more than I do Angsty. _

_Originally this chapter's name was "Fair" but I decided that "Penance" was a more fitting word when I saw how it was turning out. By the time Charme used the word, I changed the chapter title to reflect it, making her the title dropper. XD_

_The debt to be paid was not a random number by the way, I had sound logic behind it. _

_..._

_..._

_No really, look, I'll tell you!_

_Lets say the average bottle sells for 3000, Tear said alcohol usually sells well, so I'm going wit this base price because 4000 seems too much for it to be a liable vice to Elan, and 2000 is rather pansy. Now Elan is a big man, and seems to be able to pack it away well. I would guess his daily routine limit from the tender is 5. So._

_3000 x 5= 15000 for the day. _

_15k X 7= 105,000 for the week. ( Yikes.)_

_105,000x 4 = 420k for a month._

_Now, we have had approximately four months by now since this game "started". One month for the game, two months after the fight to get back Arma, and this past month or prep time before crystal nightmare. Right? If we give Elan the benefit of the doubt by having a couple of days off the drink and a few days for events in endless mode to be in account for, then the total of 1,680,000+ a few odd days is a bit much. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I placed the tab at 1.4 mill._

_At this point, I'd say the storyline is about 30% complete. Not quite a third of the way there, but almost._

_Last chapter, I changed the following:_

_-Added a few details to review responses to more accurately cover everyone._

_-Fixed a few typos and odd worded sentences._

_-Stuffed an Orange in Calliou's mouth and had a little byplay with him and Louie+ Charme._

_-Put a more logical sequence to the hug sequence and the second piece of story through the eyes of the present._

_~Signed by C F Winchester; Finalage._


	14. Bye

_**This chapter is a notice!**_

_Despite looking forwards to this part of the story more than anything, I was reluctant to type this chapter. My hands were burnt with a solder iron and the healing process was and is still; slow. As is at this moment, It's decided to be wise by forming a hard shell which I can't touch or let anything else touch, or it causes pain. I've managed to type chapters for other stories because they feature shorter, simpler chapters, but I've been hesitant for this story. This one I wanted to be top for. Now I see I can't wait that long..._

_So. I've decided to throw quota out the window. Never mind length, at least not until I get everything up and straight. Do you know I did it again and tried to lift something that broke apart in my hands, getting cut up again? This year seems to have the motto: "Hurt the Finalage."_

_Anyway what does this mean? It means you'll get updates faster after I give you this one, at least for now, but they will be much shorter...Mini chapters~_

_I've been experimenting with some new formatting ways in other stories, but you'll notice a very small amount of change here. I find it somewhat hilarious, but also a good sign that over eight years after joining this site officially after lurking, I still am changing and updating my style of writing. _

_~C.F Winchester_

_**~Lemongrass Stains: Recette's Annual.**_

_**Chapter Thirteen:**** Bye**_

_I look at her with some surprise as she looks back at me from above. _

_Recette stood on the balcony of her home, looking out at the setting sun. She was dressed for what I could only describe as anything. She had long calf length boots of dark leather with studded bolts on the toe, they were strapped up to the top and had heavy rubber soles. Her threaded pants were tucked into them, and they were of similar color. She wore a long deep mauve blouse under a slightly shorter apron, both were belted with a thick belt that held her full sheaths and a few bags of supplies. A long deep colored jerkin that fell to the knees was tossed over this, and it had a knotted hood that was at the moment tossed off. Her deep blue scarf was tied loosely about her neck, looking almost black in this light, and it flew free. Her face was set as she looked back up to the sunrise. She seemed to be absentminded at the moment, because she was muttering under her breath, almost as if..._

_I turned away. Obviously she was saying goodbye. I hear a sound, and turn back to see her boot resting on the edge of the banister on her balcony. I look up at her a bit worried._

"_Hey, uhh...aren't we running a it late? Shouldn't you uhhh- Ahh!"_

_Recette had bounded the barrier and jumped off, soaring out and down to land on her hands and feet; crouched but unharmed. I ogle her. The heck was that for? She almost gave me a heart attack! I swallow and once again the thought about this person in front of me not quite being real crossed my mind. Recette straightened up with a grin._

"_I always did want to leave like an action hero through a window or balcony."_

_...Was she serious?_

_She sobered as she walked towards me. _

"_So. Are we walking all the way?"_

_Yep. She was nuts. Walk all the way? I thought again about the way she had just leapt off the balcony and amended my thought, okay, perhaps not crazy. SHE might have the stamina required to walk all the way, but her? No. I sighed._

"_No, I need to get to the inn keeper and cancel my room, pay my fees and request horses...and get my luggage too..I can't keep wearing the same suit everyday...washed or not."_

_She nodded, but made no other response. Instead, she went to touch a building with her hands, and I noticed she was wearing fingerless gloves. She seemed to be sharing something profound with it. I screwed up my mouth and cleared my throat. She turned to look at me, and her eyes flashed in the dying light. _

"_Which way?"_

_I pointed down the street, towards the richer part of town. She nodded. _

"_May we stop somewhere else along the way? I need to do something."_

"_Like what?"_

"_Say goodbye."_

_I blinked. I followed her as she went up the street, occasionally touching a building in passing. She walked towards the patch of land I had seen earlier, where I had collected that single, ripe tomato. She bent and opened one of her pouches, pulling a bone colored disk from it and dropping it into a hole that she had kicked with one of her boots. She pushed it in and then buried it._

_She straightened and left the patch of dirt, walking on to pass a burnt down Chapel, here too, she bent by the altar, seemingly in prayer. I watched her from afar. Finally, she walked past me and by the bridge, she took a left to verge off it, and walked a while before she knelt where I realized, with a start, that there was a string of stone markers along the bank._

_Graves. I licked my lips, but said nothing as she knelt and reached under her blouse, pulling a necklace out from under it. I had never seen her with that...but I guess it usually would be worn just like she was now, under a blouse. I looked at it._

_It was instantly obvious to me that even though it shone gold, it was not all gold. It was probably mixed with copper, it did not have the purity I was used to seeing. It was a small heart that was ringed by tiny rubies, with a larger lapis-lazul like gem in the middle. She dug a small hole in front of the marker she was next to, and then buried it there. She slowly covered it with dirt before standing up fully and without a word walking away towards me. Her face was drawn. She looked at me briefly before glancing back once._

"_We can go now. I'm done."_

_As we walked away, I could have sworn I heard her mutter something, it was low and mixed with an emotion I couldn't place...but I could swear that what she had said was:_

"_Goodbye...Louie."_

_We walked in silence for a while, until we met the bridge and crossed it. The difference was terrible. Again my mind played with how rigid and perfect the line was drawn. Recette looked back only once...ad in the middle of the bridge, she reached and unhooked the pouch she had drawn the bone disk from earlier. Without comment, she tossed it into the water, where it instantly sunk. Apparently there was still something in it. I watched it sink._

"_What...?"_

_Recette however, kept right on walking, and passed me. She looked back, and I saw the desolate landscape reflected in her eyes._

"_I don't need it anymore..."_

_Turning, she walked quietly into the rude divide of poor and rich, leaving the charred, honest earth behind, and stepping unto the polished and deceptive one. She did not halt her stride._

_Neither did I._

_**+~E~+**_

_Well, I'm sorry for the half month wait for this short one, but It will speed up from now with these short ones._

_~Finalage_


	15. Horses

_Only after I typed it did I realize that last chapter could be looked at as a notice for me discontinuing the story. I mean, the chapter name was "Bye" and the first line says the chapter is a notice, if someone does not care to read after that and see what I was talking about..._

_No reviews, but that's okay, none of my stories got any for this last round of updates. Ehh~._

_Ctb, It's nice to see you beat it without any need for repeats. The first time I played, I failed on the last week. =S. I had enough in the middle of the week, but then people kept coming in to SELL things. I ended that week with something like four hundred thirty thousand...something like that...It's been a long time since I played...and I can't remedy that unless I buy the game again. * Sigh * _

_In other news, The other day I had an idea that filled a hole I have been wrestling with a long time. Now the story has no foreseeable loop-holes...of course, it also means that these next few chapters I cannot. Make. A. Mistake. It is a severe understatement to say these chapters are vital and instrumental to the story development. _

_~C.F Winchester_

_**~Lemongrass Stains: Recette's Annual.**_

_**Chapter Thirteen Slice Two:**** Horse**_

_Recette watched my luggage get plied higher and higher as wait men rushed back and forth with my bags from my room to be loaded unto a pack horse. She tilted her head to the side as she did so, her face a polite mask of a smile. I wondered what she was thinking. All of this stuff I had packed for a trip that was supposed to last me a week. I needed to spread my luggage between two horses, because we needed to travel with speed, we were not renting a carriage to go with it. Just four horses, two for riding and two for my junk. _

_Recette had all she had packed for herself on her body...and she was leaving her home for at least a month... or in truth; most likely forever. I detected no jealousy however, which was the usual response of a serve maid or some other person of lesser income I might be with..._

_I detected nothing of anything to be once again honest...Her eyes seemed to travel on each piece of luggage as if taking stock...and she didn't protest when three wait men threw, one after the other, bags at her. She simply blinked as she caught them. For the first time, she looked confused, but I had a very bad feeling I knew what was going on..._

"_Oi, serve maid, put those bags on your lady's personal horse will you?"_

_Oh boy. Recette's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and I feared for the man's life. I mean, if they had mistaken ME for a serve maid, he probably wouldn't have ears anymore from yelling...however, Recette stopped me with a look. She tossed all three bags back at him, and he failed to catch them, instead getting all in the gut and bowling over._

"_I'm sorry; but I am not the serve maid. I'm armed escort.'_

_She said it so smoothly that if seemed it had been planned. Then again, what WAS I planning to say to explain her existence? One of the other serve men picked up a bag from the speakers chest, but the third seemed to be wise and laughed._

"_Someone as weedy as you an escort? Please! Don't make me laugh! What kind of protection could YOU provide?"_

_Her head tilted tot he other side now. She gave him a small smile. _

"_I'm not hired to chat."_

"_No, seriously. What kind of protection-"_

"_This kind."_

_About three seconds passed. I swear that's all the time that took place, but she was already turned towards me and taking her place back where she had been. The server's hat fell from his head in three pieces, and his coat's sleeves had been...err...tailored. She slid her blade back into her sheath with a definitive sound as she turned back forwards, and the man was left standing there shivering. I doubt he could have seen it, heck I didn't see what happened...but unlike me, he was wearing those clothes, so he probably felt it. He took a hurried bow and three buttons fell off his coat. I held back the urge to laugh. He scooped up a bag and hurried off without a word. I turned to her as the last one recovered enough to scurry off with his bag._

"_Your story told me you were fast, but...I'm sorry...it's..."_

_She stopped me with a hand._

"_I know. This is a high class part of town. Anyone not wearing a million pix on their neck alone is a servant, and I should be the one who says sorry...but I knew from looking at them that talking was not going to be much use..."_

_She looked after the last one, who had vanished through the door, as we were standing inside the inn. _

"_They've spent too much time being taken advantage of by the rich. They will exercise whatever power they have whenever they can. They need to feel powerful too, otherwise they lose the will to continue...but I'm not the one they should be lashing out on..."_

_I shivered a little at the implications of that. The poor, the taken advantage of...they needed a place to rebel, and at each other was only so satisfying...soon they'd direct that anger and injustice at the right place...and the soft rich wouldn't know what hit them, and unfortunately..._

_I was one of the rich._

_I followed her out of the door, and she stopped to stare at the horses. Her eyes traced the lines of their muscles. She seemed a little apprehensive. I looked at her questioningly. She turned to me and whispered under her breath to me._

"_I thought you said you bought horses!"_

_My confusion deepened._

"_These are horses..."_

"_Horses are smaller! They don't have this much muscle! What are these things?!"_

"_...They are horses. Are you sure you've seen a horse before...?"_

_She looked at me as if to ask me if I were serious. I was about to retort when I realized something._

"_Have you ever ridden a horse before?"_

_Her face again showed that rare, fleeting apprehensive look. Her mouth twisted into something I can only describe as an S. A squiggling worm like shape. _

"_No, I haven't, but I've driven them on a good cart before."_

"_Those were probably donkeys."_

"_...Donkeys?"_

_I didn't have time to answer, the rest of the bags were tossed on and the reigns were handed to me. So, this was the first snag, Recette had never ridden a horse, and had just proven she had never even seen a real one. I sighed. Leave it to the lower class to up-sale their goods. Selling Donkeys as Horses. Ugh. If I could find the one who did this I could give them a good yelling. I turned to Recette._

"_If you're serious about pretending to be a Dale's Lady come that fete, you'll need to know how to ride. Just about any noble and noble's daughter knows how to ride. Get up on one."_

_Recette looked up at the animal, then back at me She took a few steps back and took a few steps forwards for speed before jumping. She landed on the horse._

_Of course, she promptly fell back off when it bucked, but the animal was well trained enough not to bolt. It was reigned in, but it was not going to let Recette get away. It kicked out at her and she ducked under it's kick, so it flicked its tail in her eyes and then kicked back again. The girl managed to roll and jump up away from it, eying it. She gulped, and I smiled before I realized I was not supposed to be happy she didn't know this. It would slow us down. I sighed._

"_Look; that's not how you get on a horse."_

_She looked at me, sheepish, and for once, I could see the little girl she once was._

"_Aww...I guessed that much thanks..."_

_Dancing, Horse Riding, and Proper Etiquette. This will be a fun week._

_**+~E~+**_

_Another short one._

_~Finalage_


End file.
